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YESTERDAY 



YESTERDAY 



A CHRONICLE OF EARLY LIFE IN THE WEST 



By CHAS. E. WELLER 

Author of "The Early History of the Typewriter" 



"For a thousand years in Thy sight are but as yesterday when 
it is past, and as a watch in the night " 



Printed for the Author by 

CORNELIUS PRINTING COMPANY 

Indianapolis U. S. A. 

1921 



Copyright, 1921, 
By Chas. E. Weller 



JAN -3 i922 



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0CI.A653348 






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CONTENTS 

Chapter Page 

Preface . 7 

I. The Call of the West 9 

II. Early Days on the Farm 15 

III. The Old-time Circus 24 

IV. The Mexican War— The Telegraph^The Railroad- 29 
V. The Christmas Box 36 

VI. The Night Attack 42 

VII. The Trial 48 

VIII. The Trial — Continued 55 

IX. The Evangelist » 65 

X. The Little Minister 71 

XI. Reaction ^ 78 

XII. Arcadia 82 

XIII. Life in Arcadia 87 

XIV. The Argonauts 92 

XV. The Donation Party 96 

XVI. The Building of the Temple 100 

XVII. New Talks on an Old Subject 105 

XVIII. The Fire Engine 116 

XIX. The Phrenologist 118 

XX. The Mesmerist .,— 123 

XXI. A Question of Honest Dealing 125 

XXII. The World Beyond 137 

XXIII. Rewards and Punishments 148 

XXIV. Interviewing the "Spirits" 154 

XXV. More Changes 162 

XXVI. Early Telegraph Days 167 

XXVII. The Confederates 172 

XXVIII. Early Railroading in the West 176 

XXIX. Early Railroading — Continued 180 

XXX. A Famous Detective 186 

XXXI. The "Wildcat" Banks 190 

XXXII. A Dream of the Years ^ 193 

The Afterword 202 



PREFACE 

A side from the productions of writers of 
L\ established reputation whose works com- 
-** -^ mand a sale without much regard to their 
real merit, it is safe to say that most of the books 
which flood the market today are written with the 
hope of achieving a reputation and thereby earning 
a livelihood in the literary field, by catering to the 
popular taste,- which unfortunately is not of the 
highest order, in its demand for current literature. 

Let it be said at the outset that neither of these 
objects inspired the writing of this little volume, 
a simple chronicle of pioneer life in the West, 
extending through but one decade in the early 
years of a long and eventful life. 

Nevertheless, it has an object, or it would not 
have been written. What that object may be will 
become apparent to the reader whose thoughts are 
not wholly absorbed in the trivial pursuit of the 
pleasures of this world. 

It is to that class of readers that this book is 
affectionately dedicated by 

THE AUTHOR. 



YESTERDAY 

CHAPTER I 

The Call of the West 

Why should you want to give the cow tea?" 
Father was sitting by the great log 
fire, his teeth chattering, and shaking 
from head to foot. He was always a little flighty 
when his "spell" came on — an event which oc- 
curred as regularly as clock-work every other day 
in the week. 

It was nothing alarming — only the old-fash- 
ioned shaking ague, the prevailing malady common 
to the breaking up of the virgin soil of a new 
country. Nobody thought much about it. Every- 
body had it sometime, or, if they did not, every- 
body expected it, and sooner or later they got what 
was coming to them. 

So it was that father, with his fine English con- 
stitution and his temperate habits, which should 
have been proof against sickness of any kind, must 
needs fall under the evil spell of what was com- 
monly termed "the shakes," and here was winter 
setting in, with its white blanket of snow piled up 
against our little rude log house, and there was 
the wood to be chopped, the corn to be husked and 
stored away in the crib, the cow to be milked and 

9 



10 The Call of the West 

the pigs to be fed, and nobody but sixteen-year-old 
John to attend to all of it. To be sure, there were 
Willie and Alfred, but Willie was but twelve and 
Alfred ten and they had small leisure outside of 
their studies during the winter term of the district 
school, at the cross roads, a mile distant. 

What is it that brings all this to my mind, "far, 
far o'er the dream of years" (for I am eighty years 
old today), that funny little speech of father's, 
away back in the days of pioneer life on a Mich- 
igan farm in the early 40's, and I, a little kiddie of 
six years, sitting on the hearth and looking with 
wondering eyes at father's pale face and trembling 
hands as he uttered that irrelevant remark. 

Something had been said about the cow by John 
as he came into the room staggering under an arm- 
ful of wood encrusted with snow, and at the same 
time mother had made some remark about the tea 
being nearly out, and that when the next journey 
was made to the village with the ox team it would 
be necessary to purchase a quarter of a pound of 
that precious article, the only luxury that could be 
counted in our simple fare, and that only for 
mother; for father would say that so long as we had 
potatoes and corn meal in the house none of us 
would starve, but mother must have her tea. 

And thus it was that in my child mind, which 
was absorbing every little incident that made up 
the sum of a day's doings, I succeeded, perhaps 



The Call of the West 11 

with the aid of one of my brothers, in putting to- 
gether some explanation of my father's odd ques- 
tion. 

It was the cow, and then the tea. Why, of 
course. Who would think of giving a cow tea, 
when it cost a dollar and a half a pound, and was 
carefully preserved in a tightly covered little 
japanned canister, to be sparingly used, a little 
pinch at a time, just enough for mother's cup? 

Then, too, cows are not noted as tea drinkers. 
Like all our domestic animals, they are strictly 
temperate, and even as mild a beverage as tea, 
"the cup that cheers but not inebriates," would find 
little favor in the capacious maw of a cow that was 
more accustomed to bran mash or "shorts," which 
served as a choice dessert to their daily repast of 
corn husks, marsh hay and squash and pumpkin 
rinds that served for their winter fodder. 

I don't think, however, that father's question 
was ever answered, if he thought of it a moment 
afterwards, but it always remained as a family 
reminiscence with us boys, to be called up among 
a host of old memories as time wore on, and we 
would meet together in long after-years at our 
annual reunions under the old rooftree, four 
serious middle-aged men, with our locks rapidly 
whitening under the frosts of time, as we gathered 
with our families around us and lovingly and ten- 



12 The Call of the West 

derly drifted back into the sunny days of the past 
on the barren and stony little Michigan farm. 

It was a long cry from the cozy, comfortable 
home in "Merrie England" to that wild western 
wilderness. Mother had often told us of that sad 
day when she stood on the deck of the ship that had 
set sail for the new world with her little brood 
around her, as the vessel drifted away from its 
moorings, gazing with strained eyes as she dis- 
cerned through her tears the loved faces of father, 
mother, sister, brothers and friends, all bravely 
smiling and waving hats and handkerchiefs as the 
distance grew between them, until the mists had 
hid them from her sight, forever in this world; for 
as year after year passed by the fatal black-bor- 
dered message came to "poor Car." in her rude 
home in the far western wilds; first father, then 
mother, then brothers and friends, until at last 
there remained only the memory of the warm 
hearts and dear faces in the old English home. 

It was father's restless spirit that had brought it 
about. The petty restraints that hedged about the 
unfortunate middle class, the wide chasm between 
the titled nobility and the struggling little shop 
keeper who could never hope to reach the goal of 
his ambition under laws that oppressed the poor 
and favored the rich, in a land where the sun 
never set and the tax gatherer never ceased in his 
vigilant rounds — all this was gall and wormwood 



The Call of the West 13 

to the proud, independent spirit of the talented and 
ambitious young Englishman, who panted for more 
freedom and the right to live his own life in a land 
that proclaimed freedom and equality to all, and 
where the daring climber was encouraged with the 
thought that there was always room at the top. 

And then came the call of the new world, faintly 
at first but louder and louder still, until its plead- 
ing could no longer be resisted; and mother — was 
there ever such a mother? — loyal and true in her 
wifely devotion to the man of her choice, her first 
and only love, left all that was dear to her heart 
in the old world to follow him and his fortunes in 
the new and unknown land beyond the seas. 

Two years of varying fortune in the city of 
New York, then a plunge into the far West, attracted 
by a brother who had settled there years before 
and was more or less seasoned to the rough and 
uncouth life in the wilderness. A long journey 
by slow stages, by canal, by lake, by the slow ox 
team through forest and swamp until finally their 
journey's end was reached. 

Then came sickness and death, two beautiful 
boys following one after another into the misty 
shadows of the unknown world; then Carrie, the 
namesake, the sweet and companionable little girl 
of ten, and then the long and critical illness of the 
worn and grief-stricken mother, whose life hung 
for many days and nights by a slender thread, with 



14 The Call of the West 

faint hope from the crude and poisonous drugs 
administered by the little country doctor who made 
his daily rounds with horse and saddle bags, doing 
the best that he could with his limited knowledge 
of his art. But despite these handicaps a merciful 
Providence decreed that mother should live. 

And so we come back to the cow, the tea and 
the ague. 

In those primitive days there were but few spe- 
cifics for the ills of the flesh, but among the cure- 
alls which were loudly proclaimed as an especially 
sure cure for fever and ague we may now name 
without danger of running a free ad for a patent 
medicine, a certain decoction that went by the 
name of Cologogue. It cost a dollar a bottle, and 
a dollar was not seen every day, and was hard to 
earn, where most of the necessary articles of life 
were procured in barter and trade; but father's 
health meant much more than the hard-earned 
dollar, and bottle after bottle found its way into 
our humble little home, until finally father really 
began to mend, whether the welcome change was 
due to the much vaunted nostrum, or his fine 
physique had finally overcome the accursed pesti- 
lence that drew its breath from the foul miasma 
that pervaded the air while the hardy pioneer lay 
helpless in its grasp — be that as it may, it was a 
joyful day that found father restored to health and 
back again in the woods and fields, making up for 



Early Days on the Farm 15 

lost time by pushing the work of the farm with 
renewed vigor and energy. 



CHAPTER II 
Early Days on the Farm 

It was a busy little world, this farm life in the 
sparsely settled West. First the plowing, then 
the harrowing and the planting, then the cul- 
tivating, the hoeing and the weeding and patient 
watching during the long and anxious summer days 
and nights, and then the harvest; and with what 
bright hopes we looked forward to the golden 
months of autumn that brought to the farmer the 
reward of his toil in a rich store of pumpkins, 
squashes, beans, potatoes, corn and grain and fruit 
from the orchard for the winter store. 

And the cutting of the grain, what a sight was 
that — three stalwart men standing ten feet apart 
with their "cradles," long, sharp scythes with their 
wooden fingers extended to catch the stalks of grain 
as it fell, as the mowers traversed up and down 
the fifty-acre field, cutting their broad swaths, and 
leaving the golden stalks in winrows, to be after- 
wards gathered up and stacked in the wagon rick 
and taken to the barn, to be stored until the thresh- 
ers came. 



16 Early Days on the Farm 

And then the threshers — what bustle and prep- 
aration preceded their advent which was heralded 
days ahead, and mother in the kitchen from 
morning until night, baking bread, pies and cakes, 
with bushels of potatoes peeled and ready for 
cooking with the boiled beef, cabbage, beets, ruta- 
bagas and onions, all ready for the momentous 
day when twenty bronzed and hardy men would 
come up from the thresher at the sound of the 
dinner horn, and after a hasty plunge of the head 
in the tub of cool water and a rub with a coarse 
towel were ready to do justice to the substantial 
viands which were so abundantly provided and 
served by mother with the help of a kind neighbor 
and her buxom daughter, who generously gave 
their services to help out the poor little English 
woman who was "clean beat out" with her unusual 
labors, and gladly welcomed the honest faces and 
cheerful voices of her mile-distant neighbors. 

The thresher was the wonder of the neighbor- 
hood in those days, and in the fresh, early morning 
of its arrival a group of us boys would gather at 
the barn and watch the preparations for the work. 
First came the horses, a half dozen spans attached 
to the circular frame with its revolving center and 
shafting that furnished the motive power; and then 
came the thresher, that great lumbering mechanism 
of wheels, cranks, and innumerable little parts 
within its body of brilliant red. And when all was 



Early Days on the Farm 17 

ready and the work was really under way, with 
what wondering eyes we would watch, listening to 
the ceaseless tramp of the horses, combined with 
the terrific grinding noise of the machinery, as 
bundle after bundle of the golden sheaves was 
pitched from the barn loft into the constantly 
moving carrier, passing from thence through the 
thresher, throwing out the straw, which was being 
stacked as it fell, while at a wooden spout at the 
bottom of the far end of the machine was flowing 
the precious grain, pouring into the empty sacks 
that were being held ready for its reception. 

About the same time with the harvest came the 
washing and shearing of the sheep, and following 
that the carding of the wool and flax, and then 
would be heard the whir of the busy spinning 
wheel and the ponderous rumble of the loom, where 
the raw material was being woven into the coarse 
but warm and durable fabric for clothing the men, 
women and children during the coming year. 

Still another episode in farm life that heralded 
the approach of winter was the hog killing, where 
each neighbor helped the other, receiving for his 
compensation the usual quarter of meat; and later 
came the cutting up and pickling and the chopping 
of the meat for sausage — fine sport for the boys 
sitting astride the bench with knives and chopping 
bowl, and adding a lively accompaniment to the 
tune of Yankee Doodle. Simultaneously with that 



18 Early Days on the Farm 

work came the making of the sausages, when father, 
seated beside a tub of finely-chopped meat properly 
seasoned with salt, pepper and sage, with a tin 
funnel shaped affair would press the meat into the 
skins attached to the tube, tying each section into 
links, which would later be hung in festoons across 
the smoke-blackened rafters of the ceiling of the 
large room, which served as a sleeping room at 
night, and a parlor, dining room and kitchen dur- 
ing the day ; and in the cold winter mornings while 
breakfast was being prepared father would take 
out his pocket knife and cut off a few savory links, 
which when cooked over the coals would furnish a 
substantial part of our morning meal. 

The burning question of the high cost of living, 
which at this day is proving a constant source of 
anxiety to the prudent housewife, on whom rests 
the responsibility of providing the daily food for 
the family table, to say nothing of the anxious fore- 
thought of the paternal head of the household, 
whose purse is subject to daily calls for the where- 
withal — -these matters never entered into the serious 
thoughts of the pioneer whose family never suf- 
fered for the lack of plain, wholesome food which 
furnished their daily repast. The nourishing corn 
meal, which was always on hand in abundance, 
when prepared and baked in the oven in the shape 
of "johnny-cake," or stirred into a pot of boiling 
water and made into corn meal mush, properly 



Early Days on the Farm 19 

seasoned with salt and eaten with milk, was equal 
to a substantial meal when accompanied with home- 
made bread and butter, and a few of the snow- 
white mealy potatoes baked in the hot ashes on the 
hearth. 

About this time, and simultaneous with the soap 
boiling, which was mother's work, came the candle 
making, when the tallow had been tried out and 
was ready for the molding, and the candle molds 
borrowed from a neighbor for the occasion were 
brought into requisition — a succession of tin tubes 
soldered together, while in the center of each orifice 
was fastened at top and bottom the candle wick, 
and when the heated mass was poured into the 
molds and had become as hard as it was possible 
for a tallow candle to become it would then be re- 
moved from the molds and placed in a cool place, 
to be used for furnishing us with light during the 
long winter evenings. 

Another interesting occupation with which the 
farmer was wont to fill in his leisure time during 
the winter was the cobbling. No household, how- 
ever humble, was without its cobbler's kit, with its 
low bench, its shoe hammer, its awl, its box of 
wooden pegs, its wax ends and sole leather, with 
which the family boots and shoes were repaired. 
However substantial the coarse footwear of that 
day, constant usage would sooner or later begin its 
ravages on sole, heel and toe, and necessity had 



20 Early Days on the Farm 

taught the farmer the crude art of cobbling, cut- 
ting the sole leather to fit the needed patch in the 
sole, and fastening it with wooden pegs, while the 
torn upper portion was deftly covered with softer 
leather and sewed with a large needle, wax ends 
and strong thread, and in this manner the boots 
and shoes were revamped and made to last through 
the winter; for the first days of the early spring 
would see us boys venturing out upon the frosty 
ground with bare feet, hardening them for the 
approaching spring and summer months, during 
which time the boys' and girls' feet were innocent 
of shoes, except on special "dress up" occasions, 
and the daily contact of bare feet with mother 
earth rendered us immune to all the little ills that 
have come upon us in our later day civilization. 



One of the home industries, which furnished not 
only useful employment but brought together the 
young people of both sexes socially, was the braid- 
ing of straw for the plain, simple and durable hat 
for summer wear in the harvest fields and ordinary 
out-of-door farm life. A quantity of oat straws 
carefully selected would be cut into proper lengths 
for braiding, and a number of young boys and 
girls seated on the floor around the room would 
vie with each other in deftness and expertness in 
braiding and joining the short lengths into long 
strands, which were afterwards sewed together, 



Early Days on the Farm 21 

forming first the brim of the hat, then curving up- 
wards at a certain point until the crown was com- 
pleted, which was shaped to a size that would fit 
the head of the prospective wearer. In the making 
of this rough head gear the particular style which 
is now considered so important an appendage in 
the make-up of the young society man was not 
thought of, the main consideration being the utility 
of the article rather than its artistic effect. Some 
time later was introduced into the market what was 
known as the "chip" hat, which could be purchased 
at the country store for a very small sum, which 
completely superseded the homemade article, the 
making of which had consumed many a happy 
hour in those primitive days when pennies were 
carefully counted and prudently laid aside to be 
expended only in the purchase of necessary articles 
which could not be manufactured in the home. 

The skating season afforded a delightful recrea- 
tion with which the farmer boy lightened the 
interval in the dreary and laborious round of winter 
farm work — the work of felling trees, splitting the 
timber with wedge and maul, then cutting it up into 
cord wood, to be loaded in the rude sled with its 
side stakes and hauled through the deep snow by 
the struggling oxen as they lunged forward from 
side to side, spreading out their awkward legs as 
they tugged at the load with strained eyeballs, 
slowly working their way through the unbroken 



22 Early Days on the Farm 

road, urged on by the many "gees" and "haws" of 
the driver as he walked ahead with his goad. 

But before indulging in the pastime of skating if 
the boy had no skates it was necessary to make 
them, which was quite a task, and evening after 
evening the boys would be found sitting before the 
fire fashioning their skates, with thick pieces of 
wood carefully whittled out and fashioned to the 
shape of the sole of the boot, curving in like the 
hull of a boat and narrowing down to the point that 
will come in contact with the ice, then a deep groove 
is cut, running the length of the skate, into which is 
neatly fitted a long sharp bone, perhaps the breast 
bone of a chicken or turkey, smoothed down to an 
even surface. A nail with a sharpened point is 
driven through the heel piece, which serves as a 
stay for the foot as it pierces the heel of the boot. 
The next operation consists of burning two holes 
from one side of the skate to the other, with a round 
piece of red-hot iron, and through these holes is 
passed small pieces of rope which are tied tightly 
over the toe and instep and around the heel, and 
then the skater is prepared to enjoy the fruits of his 
toil and handicraft by skimming over the glassy 
ice during the moonlight nights. 

It was in this simple pioneer life that the boy as 
well as the man learned to apply his wit and in- 
genuity in supplying his wants. A little money 
might have purchased in a hardware store in the 



Early Days on the Farm 23 

village an article then known as a skate, and occa- 
sionally a young fellow who had been able to earn 
a dollar or two would astonish his companions by 
exhibiting one of these new creations, but with the 
average country boy a silver dollar or its equivalent 
in Spanish sixpences, shillings and quarters was 
not so easy to obtain. And then, too, there was a 
sort of honest pride and independence that fully 
compensated the patient toiler, in having construct- 
ed with his own hands the rough but serviceable 
substitute, with which by skillful practice he could 
outdistance his companion with the "boughten" 
article. The same was true of the homemade sled 
with which he coasted down the hillsides, where 
smooth paths had been worn during the day, and 
made still more smooth and slippery by pouring on 
it a few pails of water after nightfall, which froze 
as it fell, with the thermometer standing at twenty 
degrees below zero. 



CHAPTER III 

The Old-Time Circus 

One of the red-letter days which is always 
fresh in the memory of the past was the 
advent of the old-time circus, which made 
its annual rounds, affording a source of endless 
delight to the youth of the land. For weeks pre- 
ceding the eventful day the fences and barns of the 
surrounding country would be decorated with im- 
mense posters in brilliant colors depicting all the 
wonderful scenes to be presented by "The greatest 
show on earth." At this season the attraction of the 
circus was an event beside which the Christmas 
holidays and even the glorious 4th of July paled 
into insignificance, as the flaming posters pictured 
the grand procession with the elephant at its head 
— "the largest elephant in the world" — followed 
by a long train of zoological wonders, prancing 
steeds with bareback riders, while in the center 
were the well-known features of the great show- 
man, whose name stood as a guaranty back of 
every remarkable statement on the show bills, some 
of which were calculated to stagger the belief of 
the most credulous. 

For weeks before the momentous event the boy 
would be counting his little store of pennies, and 
puzzling his brain in devising some means of in- 
creasing his wealth, as the appointed day grew 

24 



The Old-Time Circus 25 

perilously near, with an alarming shortage of the 
necessary amount, until a whispered appeal to 
mother or an offer of a generous older brother 
would set his little heart at rest on that score ; for it 
cost no small amount in those days of small things, 
when the entrance fee was 25 cents for an adult, 
and half-price for children, and no circus could be 
absolutely complete in its wealth of enjoyment for 
the small boy without his card of gingerbread and 
his glass of lemonade or ginger beer. 

In the dawn of the early morning of the great 
day many an anxious eye was intent on watching 
the sky, and dire predictions of rain would cast a 
damper on the hopes of Mary Jane, who has 
washed and starched her best gown for the occa- 
sion, but later a joyous cry would be heard, as the 
sun came out bright with a cloudless sky which 
gave every promise of an ideal circus day. 

Arriving on the ground, and once inside the tent, 
after pushing and jamming one's way through the 
perspiring crowd, what joy was in store for the 
little fellow who was lucky enough to get a front 
seat on the grass just outside of the roped arena; 
and who does not remember the delight that filled 
his breast as he beheld for the first time all the won- 
ders of the ring, the astonishing feats of the bare- 
back rider as he flies around the circle on his fleet 
steed and jumps the hurdles, and later, the young 
fairy in gauze and tarleton enters the ring standing 



26 The Old-Time Circus 

on the back of the old reliable white horse, who 
with steady strides makes the circuit under the 
guidance of his charming rider, stopping long 
enough to allow the typical old clown to relieve 
himself of his latest joke, and sing his topical song, 
the refrain of which still lingers in our memory: 

"Chief cook and bottle washer, head of all the waiters, 
Stand upon your head while you peel a bag of taters, 
All jog along," 

and proceeds to jog along himself in a lame and 
halting gait, while the joy of the audience finds 
expression in a pandemonium of shrieks, laughter 
and cat-calls, which drowns the music of the band, 
and little else can be heard except the strident 
voice of the vendor of soft drinks, who makes the 
welkin ring with his "Lemonade this way," mingled 
with the cries of the popcorn and peanut merchants 
and the cry of the song-book man, "Latest jokes 
and songs of the clown; only 10 cents." 

Who doesn't recall the scenes of that wonderful 
day, when Josh with his best girl is seen on a front 
seat with a plentiful supply of popcorn, peanuts 
and peppermint candy, while in close proximity are 
dad and ma, who have come on the prudent errand 
of "looking after the children," and near them is 
a grey-haired octogenarian with his youngest 
grandchild in his arms, taking in the show with all 
the delight of his infantile years. 



The Old-Time Circus 27 

But the joys of the old-time circus did not end 
with that day. For days and weeks afterwards 
little groups of boys would be seen discussing all 
the wonderful exploits that they had witnessed, and 
what one had forgotten another would recall to 
mind, and during all this time the small boy would 
be seen practicing standing on his head, walking 
on his hands, with other daring feats, to the mortal 
terror of his anxious mother, who "viewed with 
alarm" the perilous exploits of her venturesome 
offspring. 

In these later days, when the pampered appetite 
for unnatural excitement is fed to its fullest extent 
by daily and nightly exhibitions at the movies, a 
large proportion of which has escaped the watchful 
eye of the censor, scenes that poison the minds of 
the young with their coarse and sensuous allure- 
ments, of course nobody but an old "back number" 
would think of reverting to the joy which the old- 
time circus imparted to the healthy and innocent 
mind of the youth of more than half a century ago ; 
and yet it was the boys and girls of those days who 
were laying the foundation for a noble manhood 
and womanhood, whose after years were devoted 
to the work of making the world a better place in 
which to live. 



We had very little currency in those early days; 
in fact the only paper money was a long and nar- 



28 The Old-Time Circus 

row script, commonly called a "shinplaster," 
signed by the county treasurer, a rudely printed 
affair calling for a valuation of twenty-five, fifty, 
and seventy-five cents, which was redeemable in 
silver coin at the county treasury. The few silver 
coins in circulation were Spanish sixpences, shil- 
lings and two-shillings, and occasionally, though 
rarely, we would see a silver American dollar, 
quite a curiosity to the denizen of the backwoods. 
The copper coinage, which comprised the most 
treasured wealth of the children was the American 
penny, a beautiful coin as it came bright and fresh 
from the mint, and about two-thirds of the size of 
our present half dollar, which would purchase at 
the bakery in town a large stick of peppermint or 
lemon candy, and the boy would proudly exhibit to 
his little visitor his precious store of wealth, con- 
sisting of pennies, sixpences and shillings; but with 
the country boy there was little thought of parting 
with these treasures, and nothing but the temptation 
of circus day would induce him to expend it. His 
needs were very few compared with the boy of this 
day. He was always comfortably and decently 
clad, through summer and winter, and there was a 
plentiful supply of good, wholesome food. There 
was always a goodly store of flour, corn, bacon and 
other meats, all the product of the farm. The few 
necessary articles which we were obliged to pur- 
chase were easily procured in exchange for butter 



Mexican War — Telegraph — Railroad 29 

and eggs, which were always in demand at the 
nearest country store. 



CHAPTER IV 

The Mexican War — The Telegraph — 
The Railroad 

It is the summer of 1847. The piping days of 
peace which have dwelt with us for thirty-five 
years, since the war of 1812, are giving place 
to the shrill notes of the fife and drum that presage 
the Mexican war. Why we should have a war with 
Mexico nobody seems to know, and nobody seems 
to care much about it, because nobody is obliged 
to enlist unless he wants to. However, the spirit of 
adventure is in the air, and the thirst for glory at 
the cannon's mouth is firing the youth of the land, 
and as we listen on a quiet summer afternoon we 
hear in the village the distant notes of the fife and 
drum, and we are told that a recruiting squad is 
picking up volunteers. 



Remarkable changes are taking place which will 
eventually revolutionize the trade and commerce of 
the country, and no one can foresee the outcome 
of the new inventions and the wonderful forces 
that are being brought into life through the teeming 
brain of man. The advent of steam has become a 



30 Mexican War — Telegraph — Railroad 

fixed fact, and the slow sailing vessel with which 
Columbus discovered our shores 365 years ago has 
given place to the steamship that brings us news of 
the old world at least a month sooner than before. 
The weekly newspaper that a farmer neighbor 
brings us from the village, a quaint little news 
gatherer entirely innocent of headlines, tells us of 
the wonders of the electric telegraph, and that a 
line of wire has actually been constructed, with 
poles and insulators, and an office has been estab- 
lished in the village; in fact the editor himself, as 
he tells us, has been placed in charge of the office 
as manager, although he is totally ignorant of its 
working, but he is a prominent citizen and the 
office must be in charge of a responsible man. Be- 
sides, he has given the company the use of a small 
room adjoining the editorial sanctum. His respon- 
sibility is a light one, however, for as soon as the 
business gets fairly under way a bright and capable 
young expert telegrapher will appear on the scene 
and attend to the practical work of receiving and 
sending messages. 



Another event is heralded by the same little 
news gatherer, co-equal in importance with the 
telegraph, the advent of the first railroad. The 
Michigan Central railroad is pushing its way into 
the great West. It has already reached our village, 
and some time in the distant future it will have 



Mexican War — Telegraph — Railroad 31 

reached a city on the western border of Lake Mich- 
igan known as Chicago, which has already attained 
a population of some 25,000 souls. 

I am so curious to see this wonderful sight that 
one day in company with my brothers I trudge bare- 
footed to the village and for the first time see a 
locomotive, belching out its smoke and steam as it 
works its way along a strap rail spiked to wooden 
stringers, pulling after it a freight car, while we 
stand at the respectful distance of at least a hun- 
dred yards, my older brother holding me tightly by 
the hand lest the monster should take a notion to 
fly the track and relentlessly pursue us as we flee 
in terror at its approach. 

Verily the nineteenth century has much in store 
for us, and no one would dare to prophesy what 
even ten years may bring about in this wonderful 
age of invention. 

But my heart goes back to that little log house on 
the farm. What a rude affair it was, and how 
singularly constructed, with its rough logs filled in 
with a sort of mud plaster to keep out the wintry 
blasts, its quaint little windows rudely set in the 
spaces sawed out in the logs, and the thin battened 
door with its large wooden latch and leathern latch 
string, pulled in at night as the family retire to 
their rest — the old time cat hole sawed out in the 



32 Mexican War — Telegraph — Railroad 

corner at the bottom, for the accommodation of 
puss and her family. 

The furnishings and utensils of the old-time 
home in the early days of backwoods life in the 
West, now seen only in the exhibits of a historical so- 
ciety museum, were the necessary accompaniments 
of every home, prominent among which was the 
capacious stone fireplace, adapted to the reception 
of the large backlog, the piece de resistance, fur- 
nishing the foundation for the smaller wood, added 
from time to time as occasion required, while on 
one side was attached a strong iron bar known as a 
crane, which swung back and forth on its hinges, 
and suspended from it were the hangers and pot- 
hooks, carrying the pots and kettles filled with 
meats and vegetables for cooking over the wood 
fire beneath. While this outfit was doing its duty 
in carrying on the boiling process, the tin oven with 
its contents of bread, pies and cake was pushed 
towards the glowing coals on the hearth beneath, 
and carefully watched to avoid burning, until thor- 
oughly baked to a golden brown. 

Among the smaller utensils was the old-time 
bellows, hung at the ingleside — an important aid to 
the housekeeper, in reviving the dying embers and 
fanning the incipient flame into a blaze. Another 
important adjunct hanging by its side was the tur- 
key wing, used for brushing back the coals and 
ashes, which from time to time fell upon the brick 



Mexican War — Telegraph — Railroad 33 

hearth. On the broad wooden shelf or mantel over 
the fireplace at the base of the rude stone chimney, 
furnishing a convenient depository for many useful 
little household articles, were the old-time snuffers, 
with handles like a pair of scissors, and a small 
metal box not unlike the superstructure of a Vene- 
tian gondola, which automatically received and 
stowed away the pieces of burned wick from the 
tallow candle, which needed trimming as the light 
grew dim. 

The usual furniture of the room consisted of two 
arm chairs ingeniously constructed from a flour 
barrel, strongly built, as barrels were in those days 
of honest workmanship, with one-half sawed out 
on the side in the shape of an arm chair, one of its 
heads being fitted into the lower half for a seat, 
provided with a cushion of coarse "ticking" filled 
with cotton batting, the arms and back upholstered 
in the same manner, and the whole covered with 
cotton cloth known as "chintz" of an attractive 
pattern, thus furnishing a comfortable easy chair 
for father and mother, while the boys occupied the 
wooden stools of their own handiwork, and the 
little fellows were content with a seat on the warm 
brick hearth close to the fire on cold winter eve- 
nings. 

We were not far removed from the days of flint 
and tinder box, which were still in use in some 
homes, but were gradually giving place to a won- 



34 Mexican War — Telegraph — Railroad 

derful invention known as a lucifer match, which 
came in a small, round wooden box, and required 
frequent scratching before it could be induced to 
give out its tiny flame. The new invention was 
quite carefully and sparingly used, as it was an 
expensive luxury. 

Another piece of household furniture, which to- 
gether with the homemade rag carpet made up the 
interior furnishing, was the pioneer bedstead, 
which consisted of four upright, unpainted posts 
with head and footboard, with round side pieces, 
through which holes were bored for passing 
through the ropes which furnished a foundation for 
the coarse sacking on which was placed the straw 
ticking which answered for a mattress, upon which 
was laid the other clothing of the bed. The setting 
up of one of these primitive bedsteads required 
considerable time and labor, especially the cording 
process, where the rope was passed back and forth 
from one side to the other, tightly stretched and 
held in place temporarily by driving in the hole a 
plug of hard wood, until the rope was passed 
through all the holes and drawn to a tension suffi- 
cient to prevent its sagging down with the weight of 
its occupant. 

The building was what was known as a double 
house, with two front doors leading into entirely 
separate rooms, evidently built for housing two 



Mexican War — Telegraph — Railroad 35 

families. We occupied both sides, however, one 
room being set apart for us boys, so that when we 
retired for the night we were compelled to go out 
of one outside door into another which led into the 
adjoining room. It was inconvenient, but nobody 
thought of conveniences in those days, although it 
was rather "spooky" for us children, having to 
grope about in the dark, not knowing but that some 
large rattlesnake had sought the comfortable warm 
quarters of the bed during the day, and lay coiled 
up ready for a spring at us. This terror was avert- 
ed, however, by sawing out a section in one of the 
logs into which opening mother would set a smoky, 
sputtering oil lamp, one of the recent inventions of 
the new age, until we were safely in bed, when the 
lamp would be removed to do duty for an hour or 
two in the family room. 

My brothers would tell me of another log house 
with a garret, the house in which I was born, where 
the family slept upstairs, which was reached by 
means of a ladder, which they pulled up after them 
at night, to secure themselves against the nocturnal 
visits of the Indians, of which there were quite a 
number in the neighborhood, very harmless and 
peaceable, but inclined to be a little too friendly; 
and as it was, frequently during the night an Indian 
attracted by the firelight would poke his head in 
the doorway and, finding nobody down below, with 
a grunt of satisfaction would stretch himself out 



36 The Christmas Box 

before the fire with perhaps one or two com- 
panions; but the early morning light would find 
the coast clear, with no signs of an Indian, except 
during the day, driven by hunger, the child of the 
forest would steal around at the back door and 
pitifully beg a little "quashagin" (bread), which 
was rarely refused. 



CHAPTER V 
The Christmas Box 

One OF the few red-letter days of the year, 
anticipated for months in advance, and in 
which we were never disappointed, was 
the arrival of a large dry-goods box well stored 
with clothing and various articles most needed, 
through the kindness of an aunt who lived in New 
York City. Father's elder brother had been for 
many years a resident of that city, and had estab- 
lished a large and prosperous business on Broad- 
way. His family consisted of several sons and 
daughters and, being of an age that brought them 
into the gay society of city life, they naturally 
followed closely the dictates of fashion in dress, 
and before the year was over a large assortment of 
coats, vests, pants, shirts, collars, shoes and hats 
that had seen very little wear were thrown aside 
for the newer styles of the season. I fear, however, 



The Christmas Box 37 

that we never would have realized the joyful an- 
nual advent of what was always spoken of as "the 
box" had it not been for the care and forethought 
of our good aunt, who was always mindful of the 
needs of "Henry's family," and as clothing was 
laid aside in the spring for the newer styles it was 
carefully packed away in camphor, preparatory to 
making up the contents of the box later in the year 
for shipment to the West, and in the late fall 
months the welcome letter would arrive announcing 
its shipment. 

I wonder even at this day how that box could 
have survived the hazards of that long journey and 
reach us intact; but after a month of anticipation 
would come the joyful announcement that the box 
had arrived in the village and would be delivered 
when called for by the consignee, and it only re- 
mained for father to hunt up a neighbor who was 
going to town the following day and arrange to 
accompany him and return with the box, which was 
always a good sized dry-goods box, securely nailed 
with bands of sheet iron strips to guard it from 
being broken open or injured. 

For hours before its arrival an excited band of 
little brothers seated on a "stake and rider" fence 
were eagerly watching the road to the village, until 
the horses' heads appeared approaching the crest 
of the hill, then a run at the top of our speed until 



38 The Christmas Box 

we met the team and clambered inside the wagon, 
feasting our eyes on the long-expected box; and 
how impatiently we waited until it was unloaded, 
and father with ax and hammer finally succeeded in 
loosening the iron hoops and prying open the cover. 
The contents of that box that brought so much 
joy and comfort to the little family if listed would 
fill several closely written pages. Suffice it to say 
that nobody had been forgotten, and for fear that 
some of the articles might not be suitable for mak- 
ing over for the younger boys, bolts of cloth were 
packed in with the clothing, and dress patterns, 
yards of ribbon and trimmings of various kinds for 
mother, and papers of pins, spools and skeins of 
thread and packages of needles, and, what was 
dearer than all else to us children, and the older 
ones, too, was a large ten-pound box of the choicest 
confectionery that was made in that day. 



Years afterwards, a young man of twenty-five on 
a visit to New York, my first thought was to hunt 
up that dear good woman whose thoughtful care 
had contributed so much to the happiness of my 
childhood days, but, alas! she had passed on to her 
long home but a few months before, and I had but 
the melancholy satisfaction of gazing on the coun- 
terfeit features of the dear soul, whose memory 
will always endure in at least one grateful heart, 



The Christmas Box 39 

for one of the many goods deeds that characterized 
her noble and unselfish life. 



It is pleasant to look back into the past, and 
from the somewhat hard and rough experiences of 
pioneer life cull out the many delightful memories 
that shine through the years like a ray of sunlight 
in a dim and musty garret — memories that cluster 
around the heart in looking back over life's history, 
that come to us fresh and bright, undimmed by 
time, untarnished by an unworthy thought or deed 
— the memory of kind, loving words, of noble 
thoughts and impulses, of all that makes life worth 
living — if I were to sum it all up, it lies away back 
in the simple days of our early life in the West. 

We had little of the world's goods. We needed 
little. Our wants, few as they were, were all sup- 
plied. We were a happy, loving and cheerful 
family. In looking back into that home life I 
search my memory in vain for a solitary unkind 
word from father or mother. It was indeed a 
home where "joy was duty, and love was law." 

Of course there were occasional outbreaks and 
quarrels between little brothers. What family of 
bright, active boys with different natures ever lived 
always in peace and harmony? The teasing dispo- 
sition of one, the quick, fiery temper of the other, 
often led to outbreaks that might have been serious 
but for the gentle, loving voice of mother, and the 



40 The Christmas Box 

quiet but firm word from father that always arrest- 
ed the rising storm, and in a moment all was peace, 
and the darkened brow cleared and the angry word 
gave place to a merry laugh over some droll re- 
mark of dear brother Willie, who always acted as 
peacemaker between his belligerent brothers. 

Then, too, ours was not the life of many of the 
rough, ignorant denizens of the backwoods, who 
had no resources within themselves, with no object 
in life but to work, eat and sleep. We brought with 
us into our crude western life all the civilization of 
the East, and while we measured our strength with 
the rudest of the pioneers as we worked side by 
side in forest and field, we carried with us an inner 
life which found its full fruition in the family 
circle during the long winter evenings, when the 
work for the day was over and we gathered around 
the cheerful fireside of our humble home. 

For one tiling, father, despite his rough farmer 
garb, was a cultured gentleman. Boasting of no 
college diploma, yet he could read the New Testa- 
ment in its original Greek with the greatest ease. 
He was a good Latin scholar. He could speak 
French with a fluency that delighted every native 
Frenchman with whom he came in contact. His 
knowledge of ancient and medieval history, of 
science and art was most extensive. 

One of the few treasures that survived the 
journey from the East to the backwoods was a box 



The Christmas Box 41 

of books containing some of the best English liter- 
ature, and our winter evenings were largely spent 
by the fireside, mother sitting with her sewing and 
mending, and the boys seated on the brick hearth 
fashioning with their jackknives cunning little 
cedar boxes, listening as father read to us from 
Blackwood's Magazine, from Chambers 9 Miscel- 
lany, from Bacon, Shakespeare and Milton. And 
thus were sown the seeds that afterwards found 
their fruition in an earnest desire for learning, and 
a love for the higher and better things of life. 



CHAPTER VI 

The Night Attack 

It was hardly to be expected that the little Eng- 
lish boys with their gentle ways and polite 
manners would find favor with the rough, un- 
couth boys of the neighborhood, who were cast in 
a different mold, and heartrending were the tales 
of woe brought home by the little fellows of the 
abuses and indignities that were heaped upon them 
— the "little stuck-up Englishers" as they were 
called — during the recess hour when the teacher's 
eye was not upon them. Willie boy, who had de- 
veloped a remarkable facility and ingenuity with 
his sharp pocket knife, would make cunning little 
wooden knives and toothpicks and distribute them 
among the boys, in the hope of gaining their friend- 
ship and good will, and he succeeded with the 
really well-disposed boys; but a few of the older 
boys refused to be won over, and with a species of 
low cunning that always goes hand in hand with the 
ignorant and ill bred they resorted to every possible 
device that would add to the misery and unhappi- 
ness of the little fellows. 

Father and mother naturally sympathized with 
them, but father would tell them that they were 
going to school to learn, and must put up with some 
disagreeable experiences, which were necessarily 
incident to association with boys of coarser fibre, 

42 



The Night Attack 43 

and whose rough ways were not always indicative 
of a bad heart, and that they would be won over 
in time. There were two brothers, however, named 
Ball, great big fellows, nearly man grown, who 
were being badly distanced in their studies by the 
bright little "Englishers," and it was plain to be 
seen from their action that their settled dislike 
would sooner or later find a vent in some kind of 
deviltry, although what it might be nobody could 
conjecture. 

One dark rainy night in November it devolved 
upon the little boys to hunt up the cow, which had 
strayed away, and which was usually found in a 
clearing beyond the dense woods near our place. 
The boys had found the cow and were driving it 
home through the woods with no sense of fear, as 
they had often traversed the well-known paths on 
the darkest nights, and were merrily talking and 
laughing over some event of the day, when they 
were suddenly arrested by strong hands grasping 
them by the collar with an oath, while with the 
other hand whips were applied with merciless 
cruelty upon their bodies and legs, until the poor 
little fellows, screaming with pain and agony, were 
left upon the ground by the fiends, who suddenly 
disappeared after wreaking their vengeance upon 
their helpless victims, and father, hearing their 
faint cries, went to their rescue and brought them 
home crying and sobbing, with their little legs 



44 The Night Attack 

streaming with blood, and their tender flesh un- 
mercifully cut, and the cruel welts on their bodies 
bearing fearful testimony to the inhuman treat- 
ment that had been administered. 

Father was eminently a man of action, but it 
was too late to accomplish anything that night. The 
next morning, however, found him on his way at 
an early hour to the county seat, where the machin- 
ery of the law was quickly set in motion, and by 
noon of that day a couple of county officials with 
their warrants were searching for the suspects and 
were not long in apprehending them and marching 
them to the county seat, where they were incar- 
cerated in the jail to await their trial on the charge 
of malicious assault with intent to do great bodily 
harm. 

It was quite evident that there was to be no 
child's play in this affair, and Mr. Ball, the father 
of the boys, at once hurried to town to hunt up his 
lawyer and prepare a defense. Ball, who was 
familiarly known in the neighborhood as "Old 
Ball," a large, coarse-looking man to whom his boys 
bore a strong resemblance, did not bear the best 
reputation himself, and had narrowly escaped con- 
viction on one occasion through the efforts of a lynx- 
eyed practitioner named Warner, who was known 
to be an adept in getting his clients out of trouble. 

Ball retained Warner to defend the boys, and 
the line of defense agreed upon was an alibi. Ball 



The Night Attack 45 

assured his lawyer that the mother, Mrs. Ball, and 
her sister, a maiden aunt of the boys, who made 
her home with the family, would swear that the 
boys were in bed and asleep at the precise hour 
when the occurrence was said to have taken place, 
having retired at an unusually early hour that 
night, and the aunt would testify to having distinct- 
ly heard them snoring in an adjoining room at the 
time. 

The Prosecuting Attorney was Mr. VanAr- 
mand,* a brilliant young lawyer, who was just 



*VanArmand several years afterward removed to Chicago, 
and became the most celebrated criminal lawyer of that city. 
His zeal for his client's interest often led him into taking risks 
from which his professional brethren would shrink with dismay. 

As an illustration of this, it is related that at one time he was 
defending a client who was charged with murder by administering 
poison to his victim. A portion of the powder was found on the 
premises, being traced directly to the accused and was subjected 
to a chemical anaysis and declared to contain poison in sufficient 
quantity to produce death. 

VanArmand had the closing argument in the case, and at the 
end of an impassioned appeal to the jury in which he vehemently 
declared that the analysis was wrong and that the powder was 
perfectly harmless, he turned to the clerk of the court and re- 
quested him to give him the package containing the powder in 
question, which the experts swore contained poison and which 
had been labeled as an exhibit in the case, and unfolding the 
paper he calmly poured its contents down his throat with the 
remark, "You see how much poison there is in this," and took 
his seat, and the jury immediately retired and shortly afterward 
brought in a verdict of "Not guilty." 

It was reported at the time that, previous to determining to 
risk his life in this dramatic manner, VanArmand had consulted 
an eminent specialist on poisons, who had advised him as to the 
time required for poison to get beyond control of medical skill, 
and that immediately after the jury retired he stepped into an 
adjoining room, where the proper antidote was administered in 
time to save his life. 



46 The Night Attack 

starting out on a career that in after years earned 
for him the reputation of being one of the greatest 
criminal lawyers in the West. He accompanied 
father to our home, and when he had interviewed 
the little boys and was shown the terrible effects of 
the brutal attack upon them all his sympathies were 
aroused, and he entered on the prosecution of the 
case with a zeal and earnestness that savored of the 
warm hearted man as well as the relentless prose- 
cutor of the county, and going into the prosecution 
with his whole heart and soul he determined to not 
only win his spurs in this, his most important case, 
but at the same time to administer a castigation 
upon the cowardly brutes that would be a salutary 
lesson to them during the rest of their lives. 

Accompanied by father and the boys he visited 
the scene of the assault of the previous night. The 
footprints in the soft ground had not been obliterat- 
ed by the rain, and with the keen eye of the born 
detective VanArmand had little trouble in tracing 
them to the Ball premises, and armed with the 
authority of his office he searched the premises 
from garret to basement in quest of the whips, and 
finally succeeded in uncovering them — two ugly 
looking weapons, one a rawhide and the other 
what was known as a "blacksnake," both of which 
bore evidence of recent use, and revealed upon 
close inspection traces of what appeared to be 
blood. 



The Night Attack 47 

Armed with these mute evidences of guilt he 
returned to town. In the meantime father was not 
idle, but, acting upon VanArmand's advice, antici- 
pating the only possible defense in the case, he 
was scouring the neighborhood for witnesses, not 
only as to the general reputation of the Ball boys, 
but as to the reputation of Mrs. Ball and her sister, 
and Ball himself, for truth and veracity, and had 
easily secured a dozen reputable witnesses whose 
testimony would go a long way towards sweeping 
aside any sworn statements of the women in an 
attempt to establish an alibi. 

But therfe was one particular witness that father 
had discovered during his search for evidence, a 
close mouthed discreet neighbor whose reputation 
for truthfulness and honesty was beyond question, 
but as to whose testimony father would say 
nothing, even in the bosom of his family, except 
that a gleam of satisfaction in his eyes as he men- 
tioned his name indicated that a surprise was in 
store, the nature of which was tightly locked in the 
breasts of three men — father, the Prosecuting At- 
torney and the witness. It was evident that the 
talented young official had all the evidence that he 
needed to make out his case. 



CHAPTER VII 
The Trial 

The details of the trial at the county seat were 
afterwards rehearsed so often by my brothers 
that they were indelibly impressed on my 
memory. 

As the hour arrived the court room was crowded 
with jurors, witnesses and spectators. After the 
opening announcement, the judge having taken his 
seat, the case was called, both parties announcing 
themselves ready, a jury was impanelled, and the 
case for the State was opened by the Prosecuting 
Attorney with a detailed statement of what he ex- 
pected to prove. 

The testimony began by swearing and placing 
on the stand fair-haired, blue-eyed little Alfred, 
who was promptly objected to as a witness on the 
ground that he was too young to understand the 
obligation of an oath. 

The kind-hearted old judge beckoned to the 
trembling little witness, who was vainly trying to 
keep back his tears, and tenderly putting his arm 
around him, said, "Now, don't be afraid, Alfred, 
nobody is going to hurt you. How old are you?" 

"Eight years," whispered Alfred. 

"Do you go to school?" 

A nod. 

"What do you study in school?" 

48 



The Trial 49 

A whispered answer, "Spelling and reading." 

"Haven't learned to write yet? Well, you will 
learn that in time. Does your mother teach you to 
say your prayers?" 

Alfred mutely nodded. 

"Do you know what that gentleman said to you 
when he told you to hold up your right hand?" 

Another nod. 

"What did he tell you?" 

By this time Alfred had found his voice suffi- 
ciently to answer in low tones, "Tell the truth." 

"Do you always tell the truth?" 

Another nod. 

"Do you know what will happen to you, now 
that you have been sworn, if you don't tell the 
truth?" 

A faint response, "Be punished." 

"Who will punish you?" 

"God." 

"That will do, Alfred," said the judge. "Now 
just sit down in that chair, and don't be frightened, 
but answer as best you can the questions that these 
gentlemen will ask you." Then turning to the ob- 
jecting counsel, "Your objection is overruled, sir. 
This little boy understands the obligation of an 
oath as well as anybody in this court room." 

A good starter for little Alfred, who took his 
seat, immensely comforted by the knowledge that 
the judge was his friend. 



50 The Trial 

Then VanArmand proceeded in the most gentle 
and adroit manner to draw from the child the de- 
tails of the brutal assault; how he and his brother 
Willie were driving home the cow after dark in the 
rain through the woods, laughing and talking, and 
how he suddenly felt a rough hand on his collar, 
and a harsh voice, saying, "I've got you now, you 
damned little Englishman?" 

"Did you know that voice?" asked VanArmand. 

"Yes, sir." 

"Whose voice was it?" 

Alfred, pale and trembling, mutely pointed to 
one of the prisoners. 

"You are now pointing to William Ball, one of 
the prisoners in the box?" 

A nod, and a stifled sob. 

"You know you swore, Alfred, in the presence 
of God Almighty, that you would tell the truth. 
Will you say now, remembering that solemn oath 
that you have taken, that it was William Ball who 
grasped you by the collar and said those words, and 
whipped you with that whip on the night in ques- 
tion?" 

To which solemn question came the brave and 
unhesitating answer, "Yes, sir." 

"Pull up your trousers, Alfred, and show these 
gentlemen the effect of the blows of that whip." 

The little legs with their black and blue welts 
were exhibited to the jury. 



The Trial 51 

"That will do, Alfred." 

Then began the cross-examination, after the most 
approved method in such cases. 

"How old are you, sonny? When were you 
born? Don't remember when you were bom, eh? 
Can't even tell the year? In what month were you 
born? Don't even know that? Always tell the 
truth? Sometimes tell little white lies when you 
are afraid of getting a licking? W-h-a-t? Never 
was whipped by father or mother in your life? 
No? Sure of that? Swear to that?" 

An incredulous glance at the jury. 

"What sort of a night was this? Raining, and 
very dark, eh? Couldn't see who took you by the 
collar? How do you know that it was William 
Ball? Isn't it possible that somebody else might 
have a voice like William's? Ready to swear before 
God that it was his voice? Know all about the 
obligation of an oath? That will do, my boy." 

Another expressive glance at the jury, and Al- 
fred was excused from the witness stand. 

"Call Willie Watson." 

Willie was sworn, and took the stand without a 
challenge; quiet, serious, twelve-year-old Willie, 
looking with clear gray eyes into those of his inter- 
locutor. 

"I needn't ask you if you understand the obliga- 
tion of an oath," said VanArmand. "Where were 



52 The Trial 

you on the night of November 14th, at about 
8:30?" 

"Driving home our cow, with my little brother." 

"Tell these gentlemen what happened as you 
entered the woods on your way home that night." 

"Why, we were talking and laughing as usual, 
trying to keep the cow in the path; it was so dark 
we couldn't see a thing, when somebody grabbed 
me by the collar and began to lash me around the 
legs with a big whip" — 

"One moment," interjected the Prosecuting At- 
torney, "could you tell by the feeling whether that 
was an ordinary switch or a buggy whip?" 

"No, it was a limber sort of a whip that curled 
around my legs as he whipped me." 

"Something like this?" suiting the action to the 
words, by vigorously lashing the leg of the table 
with a heavy blacksnake whip. 

"Yes, sir." 

"Could you say how many times he struck 
you?" 

"Do you want me to show you?" beginning to 
roll up his trousers. 

"Well, perhaps that would be the best answer 
to that question," and the deep scars and purple 
welts similar to those on Alfred's legs were ex- 
hibited to the jury. 

"Did you hear anything said during this time?" 



The Trial 53 

"Yes, sir, I heard the fellow who had hold of 
Alfred say, Tve got you now, you damn little 
Englishman.' " 

"Anything else?" 

"And I heard him say to the fellow who was 
whipping me, 'Give him hell, Jim.' ' 

"Who was 'Jim?' " 

"I don't know, unless it was Jim Ball." 

"I object," interposed Warner, "the boy doesn't 
know who it was." 

"We will satisfy you on that score before we 
get through," said Van. 

"You can't prove it by this witness," triumphant- 
ly jeered the lawyer. 

"Now, Willie, can you tell me which hand it was 
that was holding you by the collar?" 

"It was the right hand." 

"Oh, I object," shouted the lawyer. "What dif- 
ference does that make?" 

"We will prove that Jim Ball is left-handed," 
said Van Armand. 

"What if he is? Lots of people are left- 
handed," retorted Warner, more confident than 
ever of proving his alibi. 

One or two more questions, not forgetting the 
important statutory question, "This happened in 

the county of — — , in this state?" and upon an 

affirmative answer Willie was turned over to the 
tender mercies of the opposing counsel for cross- 



54 The Trial 

examination, which was pursued very much on the 
same line as with Alfred except that the witness 
could give more details as to his age and birthday. 

He was taken through a repetition of his previous 
statements of the occurrence, in an attempt to con- 
tradict him and break down his testimony, but 
Willie manfully adhered to his original statement 
without variation in the minutest detail. 

Then came the searching question, followed by 
the inquiry that in ninety-nine cases out of a hun- 
dred is flatly denied by the frightened witness: 
"How does it come that you are so absolutely cer- 
tain of everything that you have stated on this wit- 
ness stand? Has anybody been talking to you 
about this case?" 

"Why, yes." 

"Who?" 

"Mr. VanArmand." 

"Ah, I thought so," with a triumphant glance at 
the jury. 

"Why, of course," said Van. "Do you think I 
am such a jackass as to put a witness on the stand 
without knowing what he will swear to?" and a 
titter ran around the court room at the expense of 
the defendant's attorney, and Willie was excused 
from further examination. 

"That's the case for the prosecution," announced 
the Prosecuting Attorney. 



CHAPTER VIII 

The Trial — Continued 

Following the conclusion of the testimony on 
the part of the State came the opening state- 
ment for the defense, and the assurance to 
the jury that the innocence of the accused would be 
proved beyond the scintilla of a doubt (a lawyer 
always has a "scintilla" somewhere about his per- 
son) ; that the Ball boys, tired out with a hard day's 
work, had retired early on the night in question, 
and that just about the time of this alleged assault 
their aunt distinctly heard them snoring in their 
room; that this testimony would be substantiated 
by the mother and father of the boys, all old resi- 
dents of the neighborhood, whose testimony could 
not be impeached, and so on. 

Then followed the testimony of the maiden aunt, 
substantially as outlined by the lawyer in his state- 
ment to the jury, and the witness was turned over 
for cross-examination. 

"I don't know that I have any questions," said 
VanArmand, "except — by the way, how old are 
you Miss — ?" 

"I don't think that is any of your business," 
snapped out the witness. 

"Well, perhaps not," good naturedly responded 
Van. "You can step down," and the lady left the 
stand, somewhat disconcerted by the easy way in 

55 



56 The Trial — Continued 

which she had been let off from what she had an- 
ticipated would be a severe cross-examination, and 
for which she had mentally rehearsed some of the 
sharp replies that she would make to the questions 
that might be asked her by the presumptuous young 
attorney. 

Mrs. Ball was the next witness. She substan- 
tiated the statements of the maiden aunt, and was 
excused from cross-examination with the curt re- 
mark, "No questions." 

Then came the father, whose testimony was to 
the same effect. 

The alibi having been so conclusively proven, of 
course it was not necessary to put the Ball boys on 
the stand, and at this point the defendant's counsel 
rested his case. 

"I have a little rebuttal evidence," said Van- 
Armand. "Call Benjamin Foster," and Mr. Fos- 
ter was called and sworn. 

Farmer, sixty years of age; lived in the neigh- 
borhood for the past forty years; had been Justice 
of the Peace, and now chairman of the district 
school board of the county. 

"Do you recall the evening of the 14th of 
November of this year?" 

"I do." 

"Where were you at about 8:30 on that eve- 
ning i 



The Trial — Continued 57 

"It had just started to rain, and I went down the 
road to look after a heifer that had been left out in 
the pasture, to put her under shelter." 

"Was this after dark?" 

"Yes." 

"Did you have a lantern with you on that night?" 

"I did." 

"Was it in good order, and burning brightly?" 

"It was." 

"Did you meet anybody as you were going on 
that errand?" 

"I did." 

"I object," shouted the defendant's lawyer. 
"This is not in rebuttal of anything that has been 
testified to." 

"We can judge of that better when we hear the 
evidence," said the judge. "It may be directly in 
rebuttal of some of your testimony. You may 
proceed." 

"Whom did you meet?" 

"William and James Ball." 

"How long have you known Bill and Jim Ball?" 

"Ever since they moved into the neighborhood." 

"Are you certain that the persons whom you met 
were Bill and Jim Ball?" 

"I am." 

"Why are you so certain of that fact, 'Squire?" 

"I turned my lantern full in their faces as they 
passed me, and told them they had better hurry 



58 The Trial — Continued 

back home or they would get wet, and they said 
they were after their cows, and would soon be 
back." 

"In which direction were they going?" 

"I looked around after they passed me, and I 
saw them leaving the road and striking into the 
woods." 

"Did you notice whether they had anything in 
their hands?" 

"I don't know as to Jim, but Bill had a sort of a 
whip in his hand that he was switching around as 
he walked." 

"You are absolutely positive that Bill had a 
whip in his hand?" 

"I am positive of that, and I thought at the 
time—" 

"Never mind what you thought," roared Warner 
with a face as red as a boiled lobster. "You've 
said enough, without giving us your thoughts." 

After the usual statutory question as to the 
venue, the witness was turned over for cross-exam- 
ination, and subjected to the usual hectoring ques- 
tions: Was he absolutely certain? Would he 
swear positively, etc.? Had he any personal inter- 
est in the case? Hadn't he had some trouble with 
the Balls on a previous occasion? And so on, and 
the witness was finally told that he could "come 
down." 



The Trial — Continued 59 

Then followed in succession the dozen reputable 
witnesses, men and women, the women swearing 
positively to the bad reputation of Mrs. Ball and 
the maiden aunt for truth and veracity, and the 
men swearing to the general reputation of Ball and 
his boys, which was equally bad in the neighbor- 
hood, as to quarrelsomeness and disturbance of the 
peace, and a grilling cross-examination followed in 
each case, which brought out much more damaging 
testimony than the witnesses would have sworn to, 
had they not been nagged into making the state- 
ments. 

The case was drawing to a close. 

"I believe that is all, your honor," said VanAr- 
mand, "except that I wish to introduce these whips 
in evidence." 

"I object!" shouted Warner. "There's not a 
scintilla of evidence that the prisoners or their 
family know anything about those whips." 

"Call Mr. Watson," and father is sworn, and 
testifies to having made a search of the Ball prem- 
ises in company with Mr. VanArmand, and found 
the whips in question, concealed under some 
blankets in the barn; that they had closely ques- 
tioned Mrs. Ball and her sister in regard to them 
and they had reluctantly admitted that the whips 
were the property of Bill and Jim Ball. 

Another grilling cross-examination followed, in 
which the nationality of the witness was prominent- 



60 The Trial — Continued 

ly brought out and exploited before the jury, and 
he was figuratively "turned down" with the signifi- 
cant remark, "That's all I want with you." 

"Oh, by the way," queried VanArmand, "are 
you now an American citizen?" 

"Certainly," was the prompt reply. 

"When did you take out your second papers?" 

"About five years ago, as soon as I could get 
them," and so ended that attempt to discredit the 
witness. 

"Now I think I am through, except a question I 
desire to ask Dr. Baker in regard to these whips," 
said VanArmand. 

Dr. Baker was sworn. 

"Doctor, I hand you these whips. Have you 
ever seen them before?" 

"Yes." 

"When?" 

"When they were handed to me by you for 
microscopic examination." 

"Can you state the date they were handed to 
you?" 

"My memorandum shows it was on the evening 
of the 15th of November." 

"What did you find on them?" 

"I found a number of fresh traces of human 
blood." 

"About how long would you say those evidences 
of human blood had been on those whips?" 



The Trial — Continued 61 

"I should say not longer than twenty-four hours, 
at the time I examined them." 

The witness was turned over for cross-examina- 
tion. 

"You are a doctor, are you?" 

"Yes." 

"I thought so. You can come down." 

"I think you know it, too," retorted the witness, 
as a parting shot on leaving the witness stand, a 
remark which from a doctor often carries with it 
peculiar significance, and may mean anything, or 
whatever interpretation the listener may choose to 
put upon it, and the meaning seemed to be fully 
appreciated by the audience. 

The evidence was closed. 



I wouldn't attempt to give even a brief outline 
of the arguments, although my brothers drank in 
every word, and often rehearsed the salient points. 

At the conclusion of the summing up of the 
evidence the court, having read the instructions, in a 
solemn and impressive manner addressed the jury 
as follows: 

"Gentlemen of the jury, you have heard the 
testimony in this case. You have seen the wounds 
inflicted on the persons of these little boys, and 
you have your instructions as to the law of the 
case. 



62 The Trial — Continued 

"It is not usual or proper for the court to com- 
ment on the testimony, but in this case I would feel 
that I was recreant to my sense of manhood were 
I not to state to you that in all my experience on 
the bench, which has been many years, never has 
a case come before me involving such moral turpi- 
tude, such fiendish brutality as this cowardly and 
unprovoked attack upon these inoffensive and inno- 
cent little boys. 

"I need say no more. The case is in your hands. 
The sheriff will conduct you to your jury room to 
deliberate upon your verdict." 

Under the instructions the jury were authorized 
in case they found the prisoners guilty to assess 
their punishment at a fine of not less than fifty 
dollars, nor more than five hundred, or imprison- 
ment in the county jail for not more than six 
months, or a fine of fifty dollars and imprisonment 
for six months. 

The jury returned a verdict of guilty and as- 
sessed the punishment at fifty dollars' fine and six 
months' imprisonment. 

Thus ended the famous trial, the first and last 
case in which any one of our family has been 
compelled to invoke the majesty of the law. The 
lesson was a salutary one for the Ball family, who 
shortly afterwards removed from the neighborhood 
to a more congenial clime, and from that time on 
the "little Englishers" had no reason to complain 



The Trial — Continued 63 

of ill treatment at school or elsewhere from their 
companions. 



But the incongruous nature of father's environ- 
ment was not to be of long duration. At intervals 
a gentle, scholarly looking man would find his way 
to our humble home, and we would hear long and 
earnest talks on strange truths which were just 
finding their way into the world of thought — new 
revelations that were destined some day in the 
distant future to create a revolution in all Christian 
churches, and save the world from atheism, from 
agnosticism, that honest protest of the higher in- 
telligence against the strait- jacket creeds of past 
centuries with which it was sought to confine the 
will and the conscience of the young giant of mod- 
ern thought. 

On these great subjects would these kindred 
spirits dwell for hours, and at times the district 
schoolmaster would spend an evening with us, and 
much as we respected him as a man of learning, 
we noticed that he looked to father for instruction 
and guidance on the many abstruse questions of 
the day. 

Mother had told us how father, a boy of sixteen, 
but wonderfully matured, was wont to address 
gatherings of a liberal sect in England who were 
attempting to break away from the straight-laced 
but powerful body known as the Church of Eng- 



64 The Trial — Continued 

land. That he had brought with him to the new 
world that spirit of religious liberty, and in his 
search for more light in that direction he had dis- 
covered these wonderful doctrines which were the 
absorbing theme of discourse with his visitor. What 
those doctrines were my child mind was not capa- 
ble of grasping, but when father would take me 
upon his knees and tell me of the angels who were 
always near me when I was trying to be good, and 
that heaven was very near to us all, that God was 
good, and never punished His children, it was 
something that I could understand. 

Thus it was plain to be seen that a change was 
coming to us that would mean a removal from our 
little log house on the farm into the town, which 
would open a wider field for us all. For the past 
year John had been working his way through a 
small college some twenty miles distant, where by 
doing chores of various kinds the poor young fel- 
low could earn his board and tuition. Alfred, now 
a boy of twelve, had already left home, and was 
living with his uncle and aunt in the village, having 
secured a place as messenger boy in the telegraph 
office, with an opportunity of learning telegraphy. 
Willie was pining for a better education under 
teachers more learned than the district school- 
master. 

Thus it was that in a few months later we had 
left the little log house, around which so many 



The Evangelist 65 

happy memories clustered, and were stopping 
temporarily with an uncle and aunt in town, while 
father was preaching in a thriving little settlement 
in the northern part of the state, where possibly we 
might make our future home. 



CHAPTER IX 
The Evangelist 

It is midwinter in Arcadia. The light fall of 
snow that began to whiten the ground early 
in December has been increasing its strata day 
after day, until the deep banks are seen on every 
hand. The tramp of busy feet has worn paths on 
the sidewalks, and the farmers coming into town 
with their bobsleds heavily loaded with cord wood 
have broken the country roads and made them 
passable, while the merry jingle of sleigh bells 
fills the air as the sleighs and cutters swiftly glide 
over the beaten roads of the town, with the young 
fellows and their sweethearts warmly wrapped in 
fox skins and buffalo robes, and occasionally a 
merry load of young people out for a frolic, seated 
in the box of a large sleigh well bedded with plenty 
of clean straw or hay, and warm shawls and 
blankets around them. 

It is the season for revivals in religious circles, 
and one of the largest churches has been set apart 



66 The Evangelist 

for the occasion. The harvest of grain and fruits 
is over and safely stored in commodious barns, and 
the people have plenty of leisure to assist in garner- 
ing the harvest of souls. 

A famous evangelist has been engaged to arouse 
the sinners and call them to repentance by depict- 
ing in lurid language the fires of hell and the tor- 
tures of the damned. 

An irreverent scoffer suggests that it is the worst 
time in the year for preaching hell fire, when so 
many are freezing and anxious to get into a warm 
place, but the remark is met with the silent scorn 
and contempt that it merits. 

All the leading churches are united in the work. 
A chorister is employed to lead the singing, and 
as the meeting progresses the good old tunes are 
announced and sung with zest and earnestness by 
the good people. One hymn especially which is 
deemed most suitable for the occasion, "Plunged in 
a gulf of dark despair, we wretched, wretched sin- 
ners lie," while by way of comfort and encourage- 
ment to the most obdurate and stony-hearted the 
words, "While the lamp holds out to burn the vilest 
sinner may return," has its proper place in the 
repertoire. 

A two weeks 9 engagement is made for the evan- 
gelist, and large handbills scattered throughout the 
town in addition to the advertisements in the news- 
papers, announce the fact that every evening in the 



The Evangelist 67 

week with a double programme on Sunday the 
siege against the bulwarks of sin will be carried on, 
the powers of hell attacked, and the war relentlessly 
waged against the hosts of Satan until the last one 
of the lost sheep is gathered safely into the fold. 

The services were to begin at "early candle- 
light" — an hour as early as would enable the 
families to finish their evening meal and the good 
wife wash her dishes and put the house in order for 
the next morning, and 7 o'clock found the church 
well filled with the regular attendants, while a few 
derelicts for whom the revival was especially insti- 
tuted had been gathered in, a goodly sprinkling of 
hard heads whom the most vigorous appeals at 
former revivals had failed to move to repentance, 
unlike the appeal of the gentle village pastor of 
Goldsmith's whose power was such that "fools who 
came to scoff remained to pray," and the most 
vivid pictures that could be held up before their 
eyes of the terrible punishments to be visited upon 
the head of the obdurate sinner by an angry and 
avenging God made not the slightest impression on 
their stony hearts. 

And yet who could sit unmoved under the im- 
passioned words that rang through the aisles and 
transepts of the sacred edifice, as the speaker paced 
up and down the platform, lashing himself into 
the fur}" of a caged lion as he drew his terrible 



68 The Evangelist 

picture, mingled with pathetic appeals to the hard- 
ened sinner. 

Listen, now. 

"Oh, my fellow sinner, how little can you realize 
the terrible fate that is in store for you! Think of 
the wretched victims who are now suffering all the 
torments of the damned in that molten lake of fire 
and brimstone, prepared by the devil and his 
angels, doomed to suffer through all eternity, where 
the worm dieth not, and the fires are not quenched. 
Think of the smoke of their torment that arises 
from the bottomless pit, while the angels of heaven 
leaning over the battlements rejoice as they behold 
their just punishment, and with one accord raise 
their voices in praise to the glory of God, who in 
His divine justice and for His own glory has con- 
demned the wicked and unbelieving sinner to an 
eternity of torment. *Yea, there shall be weeping 
and gnashing of teeth! But now is the accepted 
time. Repent, ye sinners! Jesus is pleading 
for you; all the saints in heaven are praying for 
you. Oh, come to the anxious seat, kneel with me 
at this altar and plead for mercy, ere it is too late. 
Remember the words of Jesus, 'Thou fool, this very 
night thy soul shall be required of thee.' A false 
step in the dark, a plunge down a narrow stairway, 
a thrust from the assassin's knife may take your 



*An authentic recital. 



The Evangelist 69 

life, and all is lost. Oh, make your calling sure! 
Not tomorrow, not the next day, but this night, this 
very moment, repent, repent, and escape the ven- 
geance of a just and angry God!" 

As the speaker paused, exhausted by his impet- 
uous appeal, "amens" sounded from all parts of 
the house; strong men unable to resist the impress 
of the burning words bowed their heads and wept; 
women were screaming and wringing their hands 
in agony over the terrible picture and the pathetic 
appeal, and young boys and girls were frantically 
pushing their way to the altar rail, and on bended 
knees with terror-stricken eyes made their appeal, 
united with the fervent prayers of the preacher. 
Then another hymn, a hymn of rejoicing over the 
salvation of the lost, the song of Miriam, "Sound 
the loud timbrel o'er Egypt's Red Sea," followed 
by the benediction, and thus ended the first chapter 
of what promised to be the greatest soul harvest of 
the season. 

Far be it for me to set down one word in derision 
of this solemn and heart-rending scene. Men who 
have not witnessed the effect of these impassioned 
appeals, coupled with the frightful pictures of the 
torments of the doomed sinners cannot possibly 
realize their potency, directed principally to the 
fear of punishment from the wrath of an angry 
God. The speaker was evidently terribly in earnest 
and believed in his heart that he was speaking the 



70 The Evangelist 

truth. The people were good, earnest Christians 
who were honestly trying to save their souls from 
perdition. 

It was a time when the horrible dogma of damna- 
tion of unbaptized infants was preached in the 
churches, and the harrowing uncertainty of the 
doctrine of election and foreordination was in full 
force, where dear saintly women whose lives had 
been a benediction to all with whom they came in 
contact, could not be certain whether they would 
not eventually be plunged into that lake of un- 
quenchable fire, if it should have been foreordained 
that they were not among the "elect." 



CHAPTER X 
The Little Minister 

While the revival was at its height, and 
through the efforts of the great evangelist 
many lost souls were being nightly added 
to the list of converts, terror-stricken by the hor- 
rible pictures of the fate of the lost sinner and 
moved by the eloquent pleading of the preacher, 
quite a different scene was occurring in the little 
court house, a plain, weather-beaten frame build- 
ing, which was the best that the county could afford 
at that time, the use of which had been obtained 
for a series of meetings which would not be al- 
lowed to be held in one of the churches. 

The wood stove had heated the room to a com- 
fortable temperature, and the oil lamps set in the 
side brackets had been lighted, and a small audi- 
ence had gathered to listen to a lecture by an un- 
known speaker who had come to town unheralded 
by handbills or notices in the weekly paper — a 
stranger within their gates, but a guest of one of 
the leading citizens, through whose invitation the 
little gathering had assembled. There was no 
choir, no solemn notes of the organ to awake the 
echoes of the musty little court room. The speaker, 
a small man of unassuming demeanor, was seated 
in front of the judge's bench, with a table and lamp 
before him. 

71 



72 The Little Minister 

At the appointed hour he arose and uttered a 
short but fervent prayer, followed by the Lord's 
prayer, after which he opened the Bible, and select- 
ed for his text the words of John IV, sixteenth 
verse: "God is love, and he that dwelleth in love 
dwelleth in God, and God in him. 9 ' 

The discourse that followed was briefly as fol- 
lows : 

"There is but one God, who is Christ, our 
Saviour. In Him is embodied the Father, the Son, 
and the Holy Spirit. The Father was not separate 
and apart from Him, but in Him, as the soul is in 
the body. He said to His disciples, 'Know ye not 
that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me?' 
And to Philip's words, 'Lord, show us the Father, 
and it sufficeth us,' he answers, 'Have I been so 
long with thee, Philip, and yet thou hast not known 
me? He that hath seen me hath seen the Father.' 
It was Christ who said to the woman of Samaria, 
'I am the Resurrection and the Life.' It was Christ 
who breathed upon His disciples and said, 'Receive 
ye the Holy Spirit.' 

"God Himself as Christ came into this world to 
save the human race. He suffered his body to be 
crucified, not to appease the wrath of an angry and 
offended God, but to reconcile the world unto Him- 
self. His Holy Spirit, the Comforter that he prom- 
ised to send, is always with us: 'Lo, I am with you 
always, unto the end of the world.' 



The Little Minister 73 

"With this view of God as Christ, the only living 
God, the words of John come to us with peculiar 
significance. John, the beloved of our Lord, saw 
Him in clearer light than any of the other disciples 
and the truth of his words that God is love is not 
denied by any one in this day, and yet it is denied 
in all the creeds in Christendom. 

"God in His infinite love is always endeavoring 
to save us from our sins, and it is not His will that 
any human being should fall into sin and suffer 
its consequences. What can be more pathetic than 
the words of our Lord, in His grief over the wicked 
city of Jerusalem: '0 Jerusalem, thou that stonest 
the prophets, how often would I have gathered 
you under my wings, even as a hen gathereth her 
chickens, but ye would not.' Does this sound like 
the words of a cruel and revengeful God? Do we 
not read in the Scriptures, The Lord is good, and 
His mercy is over all His works?' And we are 
further told that 'Even as a father pitieth his chil- 
dren, so pitieth He them that fear Him.' 

"How can a being who is infinite love and mercy 
condemn His poor erring children to a punishment 
far exceeding all the horrors of the Spanish In- 
quisition? No human father, however wicked and 
depraved, could be guilty of such cruelty. It is the 
worst form of blasphemy to attribute to a loving 
and merciful Father qualities which for cruelty and 
injustice exceed those of the worst human parent. 



74 The Little Minister 

"Everybody acknowledges that God is good; but 
it is said that He is also just, and the common idea 
of God's justice is vengeance, when justice is but a 
manifestation of His love. It is also said that He 
is jealous, which is thought to mean guarding His 
honor; but jealousy as applied to God simply 
means a zeal for the good of all created beings. 

"The essence of God is love, which is the source 
of all life. No reasonable man can believe that 
God has doomed any portion of the race to eternal 
misery. 

"God in His infinite wisdom has created man 
with an immortal soul. He has endowed him with 
all the powers of reason and the capacity of dis- 
tinguishing between good and evil. 

"The beasts of the field can do no wrong, be- 
cause they act purely from instinct, but man is 
placed in this world as a free agent, and while he 
is left in perfect freedom to choose his course of 
life, God has made known to him the truth through 
His written word, and with the commandments be- 
fore him, and the teachings of the Bible, "line upon 
line, and precept upon precept," he is free to 
choose the evil or the good. If such were not the 
case he would be a mere machine, a puppet in the 
hands of a higher power, and would be no more 
responsible for his acts than the beasts. 

"God does not condemn anybody to eternal pun- 
ishment. It is man who punishes himself when 



The Little Minister 75 

he chooses to lead an evil life. The fires of hell 
that are spoken of in the Bible are the fires of evil 
loves, of hatred and revenge and all the vile pas- 
sions that spring from an evil life. These are the 
fires that burn within him, and are not quenched. 
We can conceive of no worse hell than that which 
dwells in the breast of an evil man, and when that 
man dies he is not forcibly plunged into a lake of 
fire to appease the wrath of an angry God, but he 
goes of his own accord among those with whom he 
chooses to associate, and, as distinguished from 
heaven where the angels dwell, the place of abode 
of evil spirits is hell. But even there the mercy 
of God follows him, and his pitiable condition is 
ameliorated as far as possible by preventing him 
from plunging himself still deeper into the bottom- 
less pit of wickedness, and, as the Psalmist says, 
'If I make my bed in hell, lo, Thou art there also.' 
"The future life of every man is determined by 
his life in this world, and the quality of that life 
is determined by his ruling love. The love of self 
concentrates all things in himself, and in that love 
he dwells in his own dark prison house. His love 
is really hatred, and he looks with envious eyes 
upon all who would outstrip him in the race; and 
where his dwelling place is now, there will it be 
hereafter, because that evil love, the love of self, 
is his life, and dark and malignant passions have 
left their impress on every fibre of his spirit. 



76 The Little Minister 

"The love of the world is a milder form of evil; 
but when he passes out of this world what has he 
left? Nothing Jmt outer darkness, and weeping 
and gnashing of teeth. His life in the world has 
been engrossed with the most sordid and trivial 
pursuits. With a 'step as steady as time and an 
appetite keen as death' the man will go on adding 
field to field and house to house, joyously counting 
his broad acres, when tomorrow's sun will set upon 
a spot of earth six feet by two, which is all that is 
left of his possessions that he may really call his 
own. 

"But to dwell in the love of God is to dwell in 
the love of good deeds, in unselfish service to his 
fellow man. With such a man the delight of his 
life is in making others happy, and in this love 
God dwells in him. He dwells in heaven here, and 
will dwell in heaven to all eternity, and while 
he may be without the pale of the church no power 
on earth, no creed or priest can send him to hell. 

" 'He that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and 
God in him,' and though the everlasting hills be 
moved, the rocks rent and the earth upheaved, it 
will not disturb his life, for his dwelling place is 
with the ever blessed God. 

"What is mortal life to him? What are mortal 
fears and hopes to that man; and what we call 
death, what is that to him? 



The Little Minister 77 

"As the sun sinks on its crimson couch at close 
of day but to rise on other lands and gladden 
brighter skies with its ruddy morning beams, so 
the couch on which the wearied body sinks to rest 
becomes to that man's liberated spirit a chariot of 
horses of fire bearing him to a summer clime — to 
his own heaven." 

The minister closed with the announcement that 
the next lecture would be given at that place on the 
following evening, on the subject, "The Holy Bible, 
the Word of God." 



CHAPTER XI 
Reaction 

Spring has set in early this year, after an un- 
usually severe winter, and the snow is off the 
ground. Early plowing has commenced, and 
the fruit trees are beginning to bud and blossom. 
The oaks and hickories are in full bud, and the 
young trees are beginning to unfold their leaves, 
like little baby hands reaching out to the grateful 
rays of the warm sunlight. 

The great revival that has been the predominat- 
ing feature of the winter season has become a 
thing of the past, and the results seem to be satis- 
factory, so far as the immediate effects are con- 
cerned. Those converts who had made their con- 
fessions at the altar, and, to use a common expres- 
sion, had "got religion" naturally felt impelled to 
live up to their professions, and for the time being 
there is a marked improvement in church attend- 
ance, which has been extremely gratifying to the 
good people who took an active part in the revival. 
But with religious awakenings by means of emo- 
tional excitement, like all other things in nature, 
there is an ebb and flow, and the crest of the wave 
having been reached there is a backward flow, when 
the flood tide has passed, and matters settle back 
into their accustomed routine; and at this juncture 
it became painfully apparent that the harvest of 

78 



Reaction 79 

souls was not as permanent as had been hoped, and 
gradually, one by one, the converts dropped out of 
the habit of church going, and the usual backslid- 
ing followed, notwithstanding the attempts of a 
few of the most zealous ones to keep the converts 
in line and to fan into flames the dying embers of 
the fire that had been kindled by the efforts of the 
great evangelist. 

For some time afterwards nightly meetings were 
held at the church, and some of the most emotional 
ones who had become more or less crazed by the 
unnatural excitement that they had undergone 
would hold their meetings outside on the steps of 
the church, continuing in loud prayer until after 
midnight and disturbing the slumbers of their more 
quiet neighbors, until it became necessary to make 
complaint to the authorities with a request to abate 
what had become a nuisance to the neighborhood, 
and it became a serious question among the good 
church people themselves as to whether the revival 
had produced such a beneficent effect on the com- 
munity as they had hoped for. 

A different condition of affairs prevailed, how- 
ever, with the intelligent and thoughtful people who 
had been attracted by the preaching of the little 
minister at the court house, at whose meetings the 
attendance had increased steadily since the first 
lecture, until the court room became crowded to its 
utmost capacity. 



80 Reaction 

The startling and novel doctrines enunciated at 
the first meeting had thoroughly aroused the inter- 
est of the small gathering. The positive statements 
of doctrine came to them as from one having 
authority, and those who were not at first impressed 
with their truth were curious to see how the speaker 
would explain the meaning of many statements in 
the Bible which in their literal sense fully justified 
the evangelist in his description of the horrors of 
hell and the terrible judgments of an offended and 
avenging God. These matters were explained 
clearly in the following lectures as to the hidden 
meaning of many obscure passages, followed by 
other lectures in which the troublesome questions 
of death, of the judgment, of the resurrection of 
the natural body were fully answered, and the 
future life in heaven and hell was described in a 
manner that accorded so perfectly with sound rea- 
son and common sense, that with most of the hear- 
ers no doubt remained as to the truth of the new 
doctrines. 

Soon afterwards a society was organized with 
regular Sunday morning and evening services, and 
a large Sunday school class that met after the 
morning service, and it became evident that the 
new religious movement had come to stay. It had 
come upon them in the midst of the great revival 
that was agitating the whole community, but like 
the "still small voice" that was not in the whirl- 



Reaction 81 

wind, not in the earthquake nor the fire, it carried 
with it a power that had its permanent resting place 
in thinking minds, despite the solemn warnings 
that came from the pulpits of other churches 
against "that dangerous and insidious heresy" that 
was being preached, and was designed to lead 
astray the faithful from the straight and narrow 
path of their ancestors, which had been mapped 
out in the creeds of hundreds of years ago, and 
which they felt in duty bound to preach. 



Thus it was that a year following our removal 
from the little log house on the Michigan farm 
found us in the beautiful little town of Arcadia in 
the northern part of the state, where, with the as- 
sistance of the congregation of the newly formed 
society, a modest home was found at a nominal 
rent and supplied with the necessary furniture, 
made up of a few articles that could be spared 
from the homes of the various members of the 
society. 

What had become of the few household goods 
that we possessed in our humble home on the farm, 
I never knew. It is doubtful whether the whole 
outfit if sold at auction would have brought more 
than five dollars, and was certainly not worth the 
expense of transportation to our new home. 



CHAPTER XII 
Arcadia 

Quite a pretentious little metropolis is this 
rapidly growing settlement, which has al- 
ready reached a population of 3,000 
souls, and yet we find the town life almost as simple 
as the country. We are located fifty miles from 
the railroad, an entire day's journey by stage 
through dense timberland, with no telegraphic com- 
munication and but one mail a day, which arrives 
late in the evening, and we listen for the distant 
sound of the stage driver's horn before repairing 
to the post office, where a crowd of citizens are 
waiting for the distribution of their mail. 

It is a delightful little Arcadia, and is unique in 
the fact that we are all on an equality, and few 
possess more than a necessary share of the world's 
goods. There is an utter absence of what is known 
as the "codfish aristocracy;" in fact the wealthiest 
man in the town is said to be worth not more than 
five thousand dollars, and his home is the only one 
that boasts of a pianoforte. 

A young girl with a silk gown would be a curi- 
osity, and yet all the girls are sweet and charming 
in their clean calico or white muslin frocks, con- 
structed through the joint efforts of their mothers 
and themselves, and their luxuriant hair smoothly 
combed and braided, tied with ribbons and hang- 

82 



Arcadia 83 

ing down their backs. They all go to school and 
learn what is thought to be necessary, all that makes 
for a good education in the English branches, and 
what they learn is thoroughly learned and put into 
practice in after life. 

There is little travel, when a stage ride to the 
nearest railroad station means a hard ten hours' 
journey through heavy forests, where the shade is 
so dense that the sun's rays rarely penetrate suffi- 
ciently to dry up the deep mud holes in the road 
after the heavy rains. We little dream of the wealth 
that lies hidden in these forest trees, the develop- 
ment of which is destined in the future to make of 
this place a great city, known all over the world for 
its immense furniture factories, built up at the 
expense of the complete obliteration of these for- 
ests, and giving place to broad acres under cultiva- 
tion and a dozen or more populous little towns and 
cities in its stead. 

The lack of communication by rail or telegraph 
is not such a great detriment, however, in these 
quiet and uneventful days of the early 50's, when 
people are content to read their New York dailies a 
week after their publication, and Harper's Monthly, 
Godey's Lady's Book and Gleason's Pictorial sup- 
ply us with all the literature that we need, in ad- 
dition to the two bright newsy weeklies with their 
collection of local and state news, and their strong 



84 Arcadia 

and able editorials on the political questions of 
the day. 

There are no sensational dailies of the polecat 
species in which the foulest scandals are dished up 
in a manner to satisfy the prurient mind and cater 
to the lowest passions, and sent broadcast into de- 
cent families, to pollute the minds of the young; 
consequently there are no elopements, no divorces. 
The sacredness of the marriage vow is held in- 
violable, "until death us do part," and the mother, 
who is the priestess of the home, sees to it that her 
daughter thoroughly understands the meaning of 
those solemn words before taking upon herself the 
sacred duties of wifehood and motherhood. 

There are excellent books for the young which 
are read and thoroughly appreciated — the Marco 
Paul and Rollo books for boys, and the Lucy books 
for girls, and there is no lack of solid and instruc- 
tive books for the mature youth. "Learning to 
Think" is a book that thoroughly explains the laws 
of physics, which helps the youth out amazingly in 
his study of natural philosophy, and answers all 
questions that arise in connection with unusual 
phenomena. Bible stories, too, are written in a 
style to attract the young, and leave on their minds 
an indelible impress of many of the dramatic 
scenes of the Old Testament. 

The popular songs of the day are of a high 
order, and while they may be subject to the criti- 



Arcadia 85 

cism that they are too sentimental, it can be said 
that the sentiment is pure and good, and comes 
from the best impulses of the human heart. Among 
the songs that the little ones delight in is "Lightly 
Row," a simple little boat song composed of but 
five notes, and the beautiful song "Be Kind to the 
Loved Ones at Home" is a favorite in the home 
circle. Tom Moore's "Oft in the Stilly Night" is 
cherished by the older ones, and Eliza Cooke's 
"Old Arm Chair" appeals with its beautiful senti- 
ment to many a bereaved soul. Often have I been 
lulled to sleep with mother's sweet voice singing in 
soft low tones "Robin Adair." 

Of the negro melodies the popular airs of the 
street are "Old Zip Coon," "Nelly Bly" and "Old 
Uncle Ned." "The Old Folks at Home" has been 
the first to arrive at the dignity of sheet music, and 
finds a ready sale at the book store. 

We are located on an ideal site, the residence 
portion being on a high rise of ground, gradually 
sloping down to the level of Water street, which is 
paralleled by the river, on which little steamboats 
ply back and forth daily during the open season, 
connecting at its mouth with small steamers and 
sailing craft that cross Lake Michigan and afford 
us a water outlet to the cities of Milwaukee and 
Chicago, both of which are becoming western com- 
mercial centers. These little river steamboats are 
propelled by what are known as low pressure en- 



86 Arcadia 

gines, and each revolution is accompanied by a 
peculiar barking sound, which can be heard for 
miles distant, echoing through the trees and the 
bends of the river like the cry of some wild animal. 

The early spring freshets are always looked for- 
ward to with apprehension by those living near the 
river, as the winter snows melt and run down into 
the little streams that are tributary, swelling the 
current and carrying destruction and death in their 
sudden rise, despite all precautions of those living 
near its banks. 

On the crest of the principal hill, fully a hundred 
feet above the level of the river, we children in our 
explorations find mixed with the sand and gravel 
innumerable little shells which afford us much 
speculation as to when the river could ever have 
reached that height, but our limited knowledge of 
geology doesn't assist us much in solving the 
problem. 



CHAPTER XIII 
Life in Arcadia 

The young people had no lack of pleasure 
and recreation between their school hours, 
and in the winter hardly a week passed with- 
out a young folks' party — no formal invitation with 
R. S. V. P. in the corner, but a party at Nelly Kirk- 
bride's on Friday evening was announced by the 
young hostess to her friends with a request to in- 
vite others, and thus the word was soon passed 
around, and everybody was prepared when the 
evening came for a general good time, and "inno- 
cent merriment" was the rule. 

A good part of the evening would be consumed 
in the children's games, especially when the "but- 
ton" game was started, when the boy or girl would 
pass the button with the strict injunction, "Hold 
fast all I give you," which injunction was promptly 
ignored by the holder smuggling it into the hands 
of his neighbor, and in reply to the question, 
"Who's got the button?" came the stereotyped an- 
swer, "Next-door neighbor," and then to the next- 
door neighbor came the momentous question, 
"What shall be done to your next-door neighbor 
for accusing you thus wrongfully?" and a piping 
little voice issues the edict, "He must measure five 
yards of tape with Mattie Allen." 

87 



88 Life in Arcadia 

It seems hardly proper in these decadent days to 
mention the nature of an innocent amusement that 
would now be termed "dangerously immoral," 
where the girl and boy would stand in the center of 
the room and in the presence of the company clasp 
hands, extending their arms to the full length, 
bringing their bodies close together, when the yard 
of tape would be "cut off" after the most approved 
fashion. But remember that this was in Arcadia, 
and no vile or impure thoughts entered into the 
minds of the young in that charmed circle. 

Sweet little Mattie Allen in her gingham gown, 
her soft brown eyes, and her glossy hair falling in 
silken ringlets around her white throat and neck, 
shrank back into her chair with flaming cheeks, 
while the teasing little company clapped their 
hands and urged her on — "You've got to do it, 
Mattie," "Oh, come on; don't be a fraid cat," and 
there stood George Winters like the little man that 
he was, in the middle of the room, only too ready 
to pay his forfeit, and Mattie hanging back, till she 
heard the compelling voice of her mother, "Oh, go 
on, Mattie; they'll give you no peace till you do it; 
and you know George." 

Indeed she did know George, the handsome boy. 
Hadn't they grown up together, from the time they 
were both little toads, and had trudged back and 
forth to the district school when George was really 
her next-door neighbor? Then, too, Mattie remem- 



Life in Arcadia 89 

bered the time when they were coasting down Pros- 
pect Hill one bright moonlight night, and an ugly 
root had thrown them off, and she had sprained 
her ankle, and while crying and writhing with pain 
George had tenderly gathered her up in his arms 
and soothingly kissed her sweet lips as he carried 
her to her home. And Mattie had hid the memory 
of that kiss away down in her soft little heart, and 
never told even mother; but here was George, a 
tall youth of sixteen, and she had just turned fif- 
teen, and the situation was a delicate one, but the 
jeers and epithet "fraid cat" overcame her scruples, 
and there was George standing ready and looking 
at her with pleading eyes that drew her to him 
almost before she realized what she was doing. A 
whispered word "it will soon be over," and her 
hands were in his firm grasp, the arms extended, 
and the pressure of soft pure lips, once, twice, 
thrice, until the fifth yard was measured, and Mat- 
tie was released, and took her seat, not so very glad 
as she might be, now that it was all over. 

But there was more fun to come, when the next 
victim received his sentence, and a youth nearing 
his eighteenth year was told to "Go to Rome," and 
started out on his journey, amid screams and laugh- 
ter from all parts of the room. Going to Rome 
was quite a task, too, for it took in not only the girls 
little and big, but the mothers, aunts and grand- 
mothers, and when the young man came to the 



90 Life in Arcadia 

mother of his sweetheart he had no hesitation in 
putting his arm around her neck and saluting her, 
once, twice and thrice, until the comely and blush- 
ing matron pushed him away, crying "Oh, go along 
with you!" and it was plain to be seen that there 
would never be any trouble with that mother-in-law. 

So the evening passed, until refreshment time, 
when sandwiches, bread and butter, cakes and 
crullers and coffee were passed around, and as the 
hour of 10 o'clock approached the girls began to 
get on their cloaks, hoods and tippets and the boys 
their overcoats and hats, and not infrequently there 
was some little strife between two rivals for the 
privilege of seeing home a certain girl who was 
especially attractive to the young masculine eye. 

Happy, happy days! The word "immoral" had 
not come into daily use, and if it was heard it 
wasn't understood by the young people in this little 
Arcadia. Once I remember a certain handsome 
but wild youth of eighteen or nineteen years got 
into some trouble with a poor girl employed in his 
mother's household. What it was, we children 
never knew; it was spoken of only by mothers in 
low breath and out of the hearing of the young 
folks. But we did know that afterwards the young 
man could never mingle with the society of which 
the community was made up, where "select" meant 
decency and pure living, and where the most attrac- 
tive masculine youth found no welcome unless his 



Life in Arcadia 91 

habits were such as to grant him admission into 
the charmed circle, and his parents sent him away 
for an indefinite time in the hope of reforming him 
under strict discipline. 

Good old Democratic days were those, with flour 
at ten dollars a barrel, and hay at twenty dollars a 
ton. On the other hand, eggs were sold for ten and 
twelve cents a dozen, and butter from twelve to fif- 
teen cents a pound; but such butter! The butter 
that the farmers would bring into town would turn 
the stomach of an ostrich, in these days of scien- 
tific butter making. Cows were allowed to feed on 
leeks and garlic, which strongly impregnated the 
milk and butter, and the purchaser at the little 
grocery was compelled to go through with the most 
elaborate tasting of roll after roll, before he could 
find one with a semblance of sweetness sufficient to 
make it palatable, and by that time the taste of bad 
butter had so completely permeated his gastric 
juices that he didn't care to see any butter for a 
month. The baker's bread brought the usual five 
cents a loaf, but it was constructed under a formula 
in which potatoes and alum were a conspicuous 
ingredient, and being extremely sour, it was hardly 
palatable, except for toast, and was mostly used in 
that way. It was only when we could get a home- 
made loaf of "salt risings," which in these days of 
microbes, germs and what not is said to be so full 
of poison as to be unfit for food, that we could 



92 The Argonauts 

really enjoy a slice of bread and molasses, which 
the children preferred to the best butter that could 
be bought. 



rVTi 



CHAPTER XIV 

The Argonauts 

i 

Ahe craze for wealth and golden dreams of the 

future had little place in the youthful mind. 

It was rumored that a certain man in New 
York City by the name of Astor was worth a mil- 
lion dollars, and the youngsters in discussing that 
immense sum would try to calculate how long it 
would take to count it, if it was all in silver dol- 
lars, but after trying to conceive of its immensity 
would dismiss the subject with the thought that they 
wouldn't care to be bothered with taking care of so 
much money, and run the risk of being murdered 
by some desperate robber. 

It was not long, however, before the subject of 
the pursuit of gold was being agitated in the pub- 
lications of the day, in connection with the wonder- 
ful discoveries of gold in California, which had 
come into our possession through the war with 
Mexico, and throughout the country countless argo- 
nauts were joining in the long train of emigrant 
wagons that were pursuing their weary way across 
the Rocky Mountains and the arid plains of New 



The Argonauts 93 

Mexico and Arizona, dragging their slow length 
along like great worms towards the El Dorado of 
the Pacific coast. 

A favorite ditty of the day was: 

"0, Calif orny, that's the place for me, 
I'm bound for Sacramento with my wash-bowl 
on my knee." 

And, indeed, it would seem from all reports that 
having reached that Mecca of the fortune hunter it 
was only necessary to have a pick and shovel, and 
a wooden box known as a "rocker," or simply a tin 
wash dish on some of the little streams, where ten, 
fifteen and twenty dollars in gold dust could be 
washed out each day from the shining sands. The 
risk of dying on the way, or starving after one 
reached there, for lack of money to pay the fab- 
ulous prices for provisions was little thought of in 
the mad rush for gold. 

Night after night Mr. Colvin, a neighbor of 
ours, who had long since passed his fiftieth mile- 
stone would entertain us with his dreams of wealth 
in that distant land. During his sleeping hours the 
whole vista of that wonderful country opened to 
his vision, and he had often seen in his dreams the 
identical spot, a cleft in the rocks in one of the 
narrow canyons, a mine of untold wealth. 

He was a good carpenter and was earning a com- 
fortable living at his trade, but it was plain to be 



94 The Argonauts 

seen that he would never be satisfied until he had 
made an attempt to reach the promised land and 
realize his dream, and very shortly afterwards he 
had procured out of his slender means sufficient to 
complete a little outfit, with which he started with a 
small party from our place, to join the innumerable 
caravans moving to that mysterious realm, where 
many a poor fellow found his chamber "in the 
silent halls of death." Poor deluded dreamer! In 
less than two months came the news of his death, 
before he had reached half-way to his destination; 
and then another, and another, had fallen by the 
wayside, and my memory fails to recall one of the 
little band who reached the Pacific coast. 



One of the most interesting lectures that we 
listened to about that time was by Lieutenant Gun- 
nison of the regular army, whose wife and daugh- 
ters were living in our town, and where he was 
visiting while on a furlough. His lecture was 
largely devoted to the Mormons at Salt Lake, near 
which place his regiment was stationed, and his 
revelations of the condition of the many poor de- 
luded women who had been enticed from their 
homes in foreign lands to become practically en- 
slaved by Brigham Young and his "saints" without 
the protection of our government in that distant 
and newly acquired territory filled us with horror 
and indignation. 



The Argonauts 95 

Lieutenant Gunnison, whose name will always 
be associated with the Black Canyon of the Gun- 
nison and the Gunnison country, was a soldier 
whose bravery was conspicuous in those early days 
on the western frontier, and had no hesitation in 
telling in plain, straightforward language what he 
had learned of the true condition of affairs among 
the people known as the Latter Day Saints, for 
which temerity he paid dearly, for a few years 
afterwards an Associated Press dispatch from Utah 
brought the news that the body of Lieutenant Gun- 
nison had been found near the fort, pierced with 
more than twenty arrows. Of course it was the 
work of Indians, but the Mormons and Indians of 
the territory were not inimical, and dark deeds 
could easily be committed through the Indians 
when one had been marked for death. 



CHAPTER XV 
The Donation Party 

Two years have passed since we bade farewell 
to our crude but free and happy life in the 
backwoods, and we have become accustomed 
to the more polished and cultured life of the town. 
Brother John has completed his college course and 
is working in the printing office of one of the 
weekly newspapers. Alfred has become an expert 
telegrapher, but has given up his work temporarily 
in order to join the family in their new home and 
avail himself of some necessary education which 
he has missed in earlier years. Willie is completing 
his course at the high school, and father is receiv- 
ing from his congregation the princely salary of 
three hundred dollars a year. We could get along 
very nicely on that sum, however, if it was paid in 
cash in regular installments, but a good deal of it 
is made up in contributions in the shape of pota- 
toes, corn, flour and other household commodities, 
while such purchases as we are compelled to make 
at the stores are paid for principally with store 
orders, which are paid in as church subscriptions, 
and in making such purchases it is found best to 
make our selections and have our packages weighed 
and wrapped up before producing the order, which 
is received not with the best grace by the thrifty 
storekeeper, who would most likely increase his 

96 



The Donation Party 97 

price and cut off some of the comers on the weight, 
had he known that he was being entrapped into 
paying an honest debt by a store order. 

The welcome and useful Christmas box that had 
afforded us so much pleasure and comfort while on 
the farm had ceased to come, for the reason that 
our good aunt thought it would not be needed, and 
partly perhaps for the reason that she doubted 
whether it would be welcome or acceptable in our 
changed circumstances, in both of which she was 
sadly mistaken, for our necessary clothing required 
the expenditure of considerable hard cash, of which 
we had very little, and would have had still less, 
were it not for the annual donation party. 

In all churches, except the Catholic, the donation 
party was an important event in every minister's 
family. Father was opposed to the custom of pass- 
ing the contribution plate at the conclusion of the 
Sunday service, as being incongruous with the 
sacredness of religious devotion, and therefore dur- 
ing the winter of the first year of his ministry it 
was ordained and decreed by the church committee 
that a donation party should be given at the resi- 
dence of the pastor, and the members of the con- 
gregation were requested to invite their friends, 
whether in or out of the church, which invitation 
was eagerly responded to by the young folks, be- 
cause our church was not "set" against the innocent 



98 The Donation Party 

pastime of dancing when properly conducted in the 
presence of parents and older people of the church. 

When the eventful evening arrived all was in 
readiness, for while the party was to be held at our 
home it was not proposed to burden the minister's 
wife with the work of preparing for it, except to 
give up the rooms for that evening, and some of the 
good sisters would come early in the afternoon and 
help arrange the rooms and do the necessary sweep- 
ing and dusting, which is always such an important 
feature of the good housekeeper's work. 

As the hour approached in the evening people 
began to flock in from all directions, each bringing 
their allotted portion of pies, cakes, cold chicken, 
boiled ham and tongue, bread and butter, cheese, 
tea, coffee and sugar, all of which were supplied in 
sufficient abundance to afford the minister's family 
quite a generous supply for some time after the 
event. 

Among the early arrivals was Mr. Coffin with 
his clarionet, old Mr. Hale and his son with their 
violins, which were to be brought into requisition 
later in the evening when the dancing began. 

The principal object of interest, however, was a 
large glass dish w T hich was placed on a little table 
in a conspicuous place, the use of which was so 
obvious that it was hardly necessary to call atten- 
tion to it; but it was interesting to watch the ways of 
different people in connection with that glass dish. 



The Donation Party 99 

Some modest man would wander near it and fur- 
tively slip in a dollar, while another with less 
modesty and with a pompous air, conscious that 
the eyes of all were upon him, would ostentatiously 
draw from his pocket a silver dollar and throw it 
in the dish in a spot where it would announce his 
generosity with a loud ring. 

The ladies modestly deposited their mite, and a 
clever wife whose spouse was noted for his close 
ways in money matters would gently but firmly 
lead him up to the dish and explain to him its par- 
ticular use, he pretending to be very obtuse as to 
what was expected of him. The young fellow who 
wanted to keep in the good graces of his best girl 
would come down handsomely with a silver dollar, 
and thus set a bright example to the other young 
men in the presence of the girls, and so the pile of 
dollars, halves, shillings and sixpences began to 
swell to such dimensions that the minister's eyes 
brightened as he mentally calculated the probable 
sum total, which would go a long way towards pro- 
curing some necessary clothing for the family dur- 
ing the rest of the year. 



CHAPTER XVI 
The Building of the Temple 

The little group of intelligent and thoughtful 
people who had been attracted by the new 
doctrines that were being preached in the 
court house and were continued each Sunday morn- 
ing and evening during the winter and spring fol- 
lowing the revival meetings had increased to such 
numbers that it became evident that the present 
quarters in the court house were entirely inadequate 
to accommodate the attendance, for during the 
warm summer evenings, as "early candle-light" ap- 
proached, every available space was occupied by 
eager listeners, with a number standing or seated 
on the grass outside, listening to the preaching 
through the open windows. 

The church committee into whose hands were en- 
trusted all the details that might come up in refer- 
ence to the needs of the society had had several 
meetings, at which the paramount question was the 
securing of a larger and more suitable meeting 
place. The one public hall of the town was in the 
third story of a building in the business section, 
and its steep and narrow stairway rendered it both 
inconvenient and unsafe for a place of worship. 

It was at one of these meetings of the committee 
that a rash member proposed the building of a 
church. It was certainly a bold proposition, and 

100 



The Building of the Temple 101 

seemed a most formidable undertaking for the con- 
gregation, none of whom possessed more of the 
world's goods than was absolutely necessary for 
their own use, but the more the matter was dis- 
cussed the less impossible did it appear. The good 
ladies took it up and had their little meetings, at 
which many practical schemes were suggested for 
raising money. The young people, too, took up 
the matter, and organized a mite society which was 
to meet once a week, where in addition to a pleasant 
evening of amusement the building fund would be 
increased by their contributions at each meeting. 
The men folks had frequent meetings and discus- 
sions, and amid the many practical suggestions that 
each in turn brought forward the undertaking 
began to assume a concrete form. 

The purchase of a lot, was not such a serious 
undertaking. Land was cheap at that time, and a 
fifty-foot lot in a very good location could be pur- 
chased for a nominal consideration. Mr. Holton, 
one of the most earnest and active members and a 
practical builder, agreed to contribute his time and 
labor, and his son and one or two other young men 
who were carpenters volunteered to contribute their 
share in the work of dressing the lumber and erect- 
ing the building. Mr. Green, a stone mason, of- 
fered with the assistance of his son to do the exca- 
vating and put in the foundation as their part of 
the work, and Mr. Jones, a cabinet maker, was to 



102 The Building of the Temple 

furnish the pews, while Mr. Deal, an upholsterer, 
agreed to furnish the cushions. 

Lumber of the best quality was near at hand and 
could be purchased at very low prices, and those 
who were not engaged in the actual work of erect- 
ing and furnishing the building contributed gen- 
erously to the building fund, and several members 
of other churches who had heard one or two ser- 
mons that stayed by them and furnished some food 
for thought had a leaning towards the little min- 
ister, and contributed generously towards the work. 
The minister himself, who had the happy faculty 
of turning his hand to anything that came along in 
the way of work, had secured a position in the 
county clerk's office, where by keeping the books 
and accounts of the county he was enabled to earn 
a living for his family in the interim of the build- 
ing of the church and thereby relieve the congrega- 
tion of the payment of the minister's salary until 
the building should be completed, and all debts 
paid. 

And so it was that, within a few days after the 
final determination to undertake the work, the lot 
was purchased and wagon loads of stone and lum- 
ber were being hauled and placed on the ground, 
and the work of excavation and laying of the 
foundation was begun, and before the winter snows 
had begun to fall the edifice was completed and 
ready for use, and the money realized through the 



The Building of the Temple 103 

united efforts of the ladies in the sale of various 
articles of food and fancy work, with the contribu- 
tions of their husbands and friends and the little 
fund that the young folks had been able to raise, 
together with other contributions was found suffi- 
cient to pay all debts, and leave a little surplus, 
with which was purchased a small Prince & Co. 
melodeon, which brother Willie, now a youth of 
sixteen, had learned to play, and had become quite 
proficient in its use, while there was no lack of 
fresh young voices to make up the choir, and such 
good old tunes as "Ariel," "Coronation," "Federal 
Street," "Naoma," and dozens of other fine old 
productions now relegated to the dust and ashes of 
past years, were sung with a fervor and zest which 
characterized the deep religious spirit that pre- 
vailed in all Christian churches of that day. 

It was a joyful day when the announcement was 
made that the first service would be held in the new 
temple on the following Sabbath morning, and 
when the congregation assembled everything was 
complete and in order, even to the name of each 
member printed on little cards and tacked onto the 
backs of the respective pews. 

Thus had the work progressed to a successful 
termination which at the outset was deemed almost 
impossible, but which had been carried through by 
the steadfast determination of a few faithful ones 
who had worked happily and harmoniously to- 



104 The Building of the Temple 

gether through the long summer and autumn days. 
The good people, too, fully realized the meaning of 
the words, "Except the Lord build the house the 
laborers labor in vain," and were upheld in their 
work by the faith that the Lord was with them in 
the sacred work that they had undertaken in the 
building of His house. 



CHAPTER XVII 
New Talks on an Old Subject 

It was not surprising that the doctrines that were 
being preached from the pulpit of the new 
church should arouse some strong opposition 
on the part of the pastors of some of the evangelical 
churches of the town. Some, however, maintained 
a dignified silence, content to preach their own doc- 
trines, and rely upon holding their congregations 
with a fine church, attractive music and the prestige 
of a membership of some of the best families of 
the place, who felt in duty bound to hold to the 
faith of their ancestors, although they had a very 
hazy idea of what that faith consisted. But there 
were others who felt called upon to take up the 
cudgels and wage a valiant warfare in defense of 
their faith. 

The principal line of attack was the sweeping 
charge that the preacher of these strange doctrines 
did not believe in the Bible, and was trying to sub- 
stitute a new Bible, made up of the writings of 
Confucius, Mahomet, or some other founder of 
non-Christian faith; but the general charge, "Don't 
believe in the Bible," was sufficient for their pur- 
pose, and the obscure little church that had dared 
to raise its head in their midst and create doubts 
in the minds of some of their parishioners as to 
the truth of certain portions of that sacred book 

105 



106 New Talks on an Old Subject 

was made the target for a general attack all along 
the line. 

The opposition forces were led by a large, florid 
complexioned man of the militant type, who began 
the warfare by a sermon in which the faithful were 
solemnly warned against the new heresy, and the 
exponent of the new doctrines was challenged to 
produce his proof that the Bible was not literally 
true. 

It was also charged that the young people were 
being corrupted by allowing the sinful amusement 
of dancing at the social gatherings of the church, 
and it was also reported that some of the young 
people of that church had been seen playing a sin- 
ful game known as "cards." The card game of 
"Authors" was considered perfectly proper and 
was not prohibited by the orthodox church at their 
sociables, as conveying useful information of a 
literary character, but the playing of cards with 
spots on them, and pictures of kings, queens and 
knaves was denounced as sinful in the extreme, 
although nobody seemed to be able to give a rea- 
son for it. 

Mr. Westlake, a deacon of the Methodist church, 
who stood very high in the estimation of his breth- 
ren, had had for some time a speaking acquaintance 
with the little minister, who occasionally patron- 
ized his drug store, and had found him a most 
genial and warm-hearted man, and the charge that 



New Talks on an Old Subject 107 

he did not believe in the Bible worried Mr. West- 
lake not a little. He was a just man, and not dis- 
posed to pass judgment on any man without being 
satisfied of the truth of the charge. 

One pleasant morning in July, having deter- 
mined to satisfy his mind on that score, he called 
at the minister's home, and found him in his study. 
After the usual pleasant salutations, Mr. Westlake 
rather abruptly came to the point, saying, "Mr. 
Watson, some people in my church are making the 
serious charge that you do not believe in the Bible. 
Would you be willing to give me a little of your 
time this morning on that subject, for it has 
troubled me a good deal, and it is not right to have 
these things said about you, if it is not true." 

The minister replied, smilingly, "Why, Brother 
Westlake, there isn't a subject in the world that I 
would rather talk about with you," and saying this 
he stepped to his bookcase and took out a time- 
worn deal box, which he opened. The box was 
lined with purple velvet and contained an ancient 
volume, which the minister reverently lifted from 
its receptacle and laid on the table. 

"I call this my Crusader's Bible," said he, "be- 
cause it has come down to me through several gen- 
erations. My great-grandparents, my grandparents 
and my own father and mother have treasured this 
book, which has been the comfort and solace of 
their lives, and, as you see from the worn edges 



108 New Talks on an Old Subject 

and the corners of the leaves, every page has been 
read by them many, many times, and my own dear 
mother died with it in her arms. 

"I have always considered the Bible a sacred 
book, even to its covers, and for that reason when 
it is not in use it is carefully kept in this box, which 
was made for it, in order that it may be kept apart 
from other books. 

"I have frequently been shocked to see with what 
carelessness this divine book has been mingled with 
other books in the library, and it always pains me 
to see magazines, newspapers and novels lying on 
top of it, and often when I am in other people's 
homes and see this, I cannot resist the impulse to 
remove any other book that has been placed upon it. 

"But this is not answering your question," added 
the minister. 

"Yes," said Mr. Westlake, "you have answered 
it so fully that I feel ashamed of having asked you 
the question at all." 

"Don't be too sure of that," said the minister. 
"There is much to be said about this word of God. 
In the first place, it is important that we should 
understand that the Bible, like all of God's crea- 
tions, has both an external and an internal meaning. 
Being the word of God, it is unlike any other book, 
because it was written not only for the Jews and 
the Christians in their time, but for all nations and 
all people, for all time to come. 






New Talks on an Old Subject 109 

"In what language must such a book be written? 
Evidently in the language of nature, a language as 
eternal as the everlasting hills; and whenever we 
read of gardens, floods, rivers, mountains, birds, 
beasts, stones, rocks, and the myriad of objects 
spoken of in the Bible, there is a deeper meaning in 
all these things than we have been accustomed to 
see in its mere literal sense. It is written in a 
language that will endure as long as the world 
stands, a language that is common to every nation 
and every tongue. 

"Your next question is, Do I believe in the Bible 
as it is written, or am I trying to extract some- 
thing from it that is not in it? 

"We all know that there can be no permanent 
edifice without a foundation or superstructure. The 
Bible is literally the word of God, and as such has 
been the means of salvation of thousands of souls, 
and it has brought comfort and strength to many 
a sorrowing heart. 

"Our Lord's Sermon on the Mount has given us 
an infallible guide for our daily life, and to one 
who is content to rest solely on the letter of the 
Word it is all-sufficient, if he follows its teachings. 
But the Lord in all His talks with His disciples 
spoke in parables, which they could not interpret; 
nevertheless, there is enough in His words in their 
bare literal sense to furnish the simplest of His 



110 New Talks on an Old Subject 

children with all of the comfort and instruction 
that they require. 

"At the same time, if we take the entire Bible, 
especially the Old Testament, we find there many 
things that cannot be understood in their literal 
sense; much that is cruel and unjust, much that is 
repugnant, much that is horrible and that we can- 
not reconcile with our finite ideas of justice and 
right. 

"A striking example of the existence of this inner 
sense of the Scriptures will be found in the Book 
of Revelation — that wonderful Apocalypse, with 
its grand and mysterious imagery, as revealed to 
John while on the Isle of Patmos. What can we 
understand of that great panorama that is por- 
trayed to our wondering vision, much of which 
cannot possibly be understood in its literal sense? 
And yet why is it that the Book closes with that 
solemn injunction, 'If any man shall add unto these 
things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are 
written in this book,' and 'If any man shall take 
away from the Book of this prophecy, God shall 
take away his part out of the Book of Life, out of 
the Holy City, and from the things which are writ- 
ten in this Book. 9 

"Why this dire prediction in respect to this one 
book and none other of the Sacred Scriptures, ex- 
cept to secure its protection, and guard it from any 
attempt by the translators to render intelligible 



New Talks on an Old Subject 111 

something that they could not understand in its 
literal sense?" 

"But is not the attempt to extract another mean- 
ing from the Book of Revelation adding the very 
thing that is so strictly forbidden?" inquired the 
visitor. 

"We can add nothing to the Book of Revelation 
that is not already a part of it," replied the minis- 
ter, "nor do we take away anything by explaining 
the meaning of what is already there. To drink of 
water from a cup doesn't destroy the vessel that 
contains it. 

"In this respect the Bible has always contained 
truths of which we have been ignorant, and the 
revelation of those truths does not violate the strict 
injunction in respect of the Book of Revelation, 
any more than Christ's explanation to His disciples 
of the Parable of the Sower destroyed the literal 
sense of the parable as spoken by Him. 

"There is nothing in the Bible (with the excep- 
tion of some parts, which I will mention) that has 
not within its literal sense a hidden meaning, and 
it is that hidden meaning that stamps it as the word 
of God. 

"There are some portions of the Bible which 
have not this inner sense, and are not therefore the 
word of God, although they are useful and helpful 
to us in the way of instruction and guidance, in 
connection with other parts of the Bible. This is 



112 New Talks on an Old Subject 

true of the Acts of the Apostles, which is a literally 
true account and is of value to us as of historical 
interest. The epistles of Paul and his brethren are 
entitled to much weight by reason of the disciples 
having lived at the time of Christ and heard His 
utterances, and therefore having had a very clear 
conception of die pure Christian religion as taught 
by Him; and Paul's epistles form the basis for 
texts to sermons in most of the Christian churches 
today, for the reason that they are simple and plain 
statements of what is taught by our Lord in the 
Gospels. 

"The other books of the Bible that have no in- 
ternal sense and are not regarded by us as the 
word of God are Chronicles, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, 
the Song of Solomon, and two or three other small 
books; but all of the other books from Genesis to 
Revelation have the hidden meaning, and are the 
divinely inspired word of God. 

"The literal sense is a guard to the internal sense 
of the Bible, by which it is protected from profana- 
tion by those who are incapable of understanding 
it. People may dispute as much as they please 
about the meaning of certain passages in the literal 
sense without doing the least violence to the inner 
meaning which is concealed by the letter. The 
Word in its literal sense is the outer garment of our 
Lord, which was parted and distributed among the 
Roman soldiers at His crucifixion, but the internal 



New Talks on an Old Subject 113 

sense is the inner garment that was 'without seam, 
woven from top throughout 9 and was not parted, 
but was preserved intact. The literal sense of the 
Scriptures may be said to be the cherubim placed 
at the entrance of the Garden of Eden with flaming 
sword that turned every way, to guard the Tree of 
Life. 

"Many of the historical portions of the Bible 
are literally true, and doubly so, when understood 
in their internal sense. 

"The story of Creation is not literally true. The 
world was not created in six days. 

"The story of the Garden of Eden and the crea- 
tion of man is not literally true, nor is the story of 
the flood and Noah's ark. 

"The absurdity of these divine narratives in 
their literal sense when viewed in the light of calm 
reason has been the means of driving many thor- 
oughly sincere and honest men into a rejection of 
the entire Bible, and yet all these things have a 
meaning, and a most important meaning, that ap- 
plies to the life of every individual who has lived 
or ever will live on this earth. 

"The expressions in the Bible that God is angry, 
that He punishes the sinner, that He leads into 
temptation, and that He possesses all the human 
frailties that are attributed to Him, are simply 
appearances to the common mind of man, because 
the Bible is written in a form that adapts itself to 



114 New Talks on an Old Subject 

all conditions of men, just as water adapts its form 
to the vessel in which it is contained; it is impossi- 
ble with some men to understand that an all-power- 
ful Being would not possess all of the human qual- 
ities of a despotic ruler, and such persons could 
not conceive of God except from their own human 
standpoint. And yet He says to His children, 'As 
the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my 
ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts 
higher than your thoughts.' The real truth is that 
God is never angry, never punishes, never leads 
into temptation, but it is man himself who becomes 
angry and who punishes himself, and falls into 
temptation. 

"If we hold to the strict letter of the Word, and 
say that it must be true that God is angry, because 
the Bible says so, we may also point to the plain 
letter of the Word that says that God is love, that 
God is good, that His mercy is over all His works; 
that He pitieth us as a human father pitieth his own 
children. 

"To those who cannot conceive of God except as 
a God of wrath and vengeance, who delights in 
punishing the wicked, and who inflicts the most 
horrible tortures upon them 'for His own glory,' 
those words are there for them, adapted to their 
own finite conception of God, and in generations 
past that crude idea of God as a merciless despot 
has undoubtedly been the means of saving many 



New Talks on an Old Subject 115 

from their sins, and will do so for generations to 
come, with those who cannot conceive of Him in 
any other way, and with such it is the only way in 
which they can be saved from falling into evil ways. 

"Some people require very strong medicine for 
the cure of their diseases, while others are cured 
by the milder remedies, which are no less power- 
ful in effecting the cure. 

"And now," said the minister, "I think I have 
said enough to convince you and your friends in 
the church that I am guilty of the charge that I do 
not believe in the Bible, and yet I believe it to be 
the word of God, and for that reason it is more 
sacred to me than all other books." 

As Mr. Westlake arose to take his leave he said, 
"Brother Watson, you have given me more to 
think about in this morning's talk than I have ever 
heard in all the sermons that I have listened to in 
my lifetime. But I must have another talk with 
you before I can fully realize the tremendous im- 
port of all that you have said." 



CHAPTER XVIII 
The Fire Engine 

There seems to be no end to the wonderful 
things that are coming along in this new age 
of invention. The latest is the fire engine. 
Heretofore when a fire would break out in a store 
or dwelling house, which happily has been very 
seldom, at the first cry of "Fire" all the people 
would hasten to the scene of the conflagration and 
a bucket brigade would be quickly organized, with 
a supply of wooden pails loaned by the nearest 
grocery and picked up in the neighborhood, and a 
line of men would be formed to the nearest supply 
of water, while the pails of water would be passed 
along as fast as they could be filled to those stand- 
ing nearest the fire. If the alarm came during the 
night each citizen would hastily dress himself and 
pick up an empty pail and run at full speed in the 
direction of the flames. 

But now all this is changed, and we have a fire 
engine, two of them, in fact — the "Alert" and the 
"Cataract," and two companies of volunteer fire- 
men have been formed, the Alerts having red shirts 
with black, shiny belts and stiff firemen's hats, 
while the Cataracts have blue flannel shirts to dis- 
tinguish them from the other company. 



116 



The Fire Engine 117 

Brother John is a member of the Alerts, and at 
night his uniform lies on a chair near his bed, to 
be quickly donned at the first alarm of fire. 

It is a great sight when the day is set for a 
friendly contest between the rival companies, to 
see which can throw the highest stream, each man 
standing in his place on the machine, facing those 
on the other side, with their hands on the "brakes," 
awaiting the command of the captain, who hoarsely 
shouts through his speaking trumpet to "man the 
brakes," and as he gives the order to pump, the 
muscles of twenty or thirty men are strained to 
their utmost tension, and the ponderous levers fly 
up and down with wonderful rapidity, in their ef- 
forts to outdo the other company. 

As we are a careful people it is seldom that our 
boys are called upon to do any serious work, but 
when the time comes they may be counted on in 
doing their whole duty. On the 4th of July and 
Washington's birthday celebrations they are a 
great addition to our street pageant, with their 
bright uniforms as they march in the line of 
parade, hauling their handsome engines and hose 
carts, with their tinkling bells. 



CHAPTER XIX 

The Phrenologist 

A nother interesting event that has broken the 

L\ monotony of our little town life is the ar- 
-A. -^ rival of a celebrated phrenologist, whose 
advent has been heralded for weeks in advance by 
large posters, displaying a head entirely denuded 
of hair, but having in its place square sections, 
somewhat like a county map, each square designat- 
ing a certain bump, which according to its size or 
lack of size is said to be a sure indication that its 
possessor has certain characteristics, or is lacking 
in the characteristic supposed to have its seat in 
that particular region of the brain. 

The distinguished gentleman is to give us a two 
weeks' course of free lectures, in which the motto 
"Know Thyself" figures prominently. How he can 
afford to come all the way out West and pay his 
expenses out of his free lectures is somewhat of a 
problem, at first glance, but we learn later that he 
is willing to give up his time at the hotel during the 
day in examining the craniums of a limited num- 
ber of persons at two dollars a head. 

The idea seems to be that by undergoing this 
process at the hands of the professor, accompanied 
with a written chart giving all the salient points of 
character which he has been able to discover, it 
will furnish a basis upon which one may map out 

118 



The Phrenologist 119 

his whole future course in life with almost absolute 
certainty. The proposition is very alluring, and 
proud parents of promising boys are the first to 
bring their offspring to the phrenologist, who as a 
rule is able to gratify their fond hopes by pointing 
out his strong points, and his bright prospects for a 
future career, which may lead even to the presi- 
dency of the United States. 

Then, too, perhaps at the same time a clever 
wife succeeds in inducing her spouse to submit to 
an examination which may reveal his prevailing 
weakness or strength in a wrong direction, not so 
much for her own satisfaction, but because she 
wants him to be assured of something concerning 
which she has known all along but has failed to 
convince him of the correctness of her diagnosis. 
Then again, on his part, the husband is equally 
anxious to convince his better half of the superior- 
ity of his judgment in regard to some of her short- 
comings. So between the husband and wife and 
their promising offspring, the professor is reaping 
quite a harvest at two dollars a head, averaging 
from 25 to 30 persons in a day. 

To the disinterested on-looker, however, it is evi- 
dent that the professor is not overpaid in these 
cases for his skillful and adroit service in reading 
characters, where in the case of the husband and 
wife he is compelled to steer his craft through a 
very narrow passage in attempting to avoid Scylla 



120 The Phrenologist 

and Charybdis, and at the same time maintain his 
reputation for correct reading of character, but he 
is sufficiently tactful in all such cases to lean to the 
side of the gentler sex, and if the bumps suggest 
any particularly bad qualities they are always 
found to predominate among the sterner sex, which 
is conceded by the ladies, at least, to be perfectly 
fair and proper. 

But in all communities we are pretty certain 
to find here and there a doubting Thomas, and, in 
this town there are several, one or two of whom 
have had the temerity to suggest that the bumps 
have very little to do with the professor's forecast 
of the future lives of his subjects, but savor more 
of the arts of the ordinary fortune teller, whose 
keen observation of features, voice and manner, 
aided perhaps by some overheard chance remark 
enables him to arrive at a pretty accurate outline 
of the salient points of character, and draw a horo- 
scope which is satisfactory to the credulous seeker 
after occult knowledge. 

These doubts, having reached the ear of the 
professor, nettled the great man not a little — to 
think that he should have come all the way from 
New York City into this wild and woolly West, to 
find somebody that had the audacity to question 
the wonderful discoveries of the great Gall, and 
Spurzheim, to say nothing of one other great man, 



The Phrenologist 121 

whose name, as he states, modesty forbids him to 
mention. 

In order to set completely at rest any doubts that 
might arise through the criticisms of these wise- 
acres he proposed during the last lecture of his 
course that a committee be appointed to blindfold 
him, and present to him a subject, whose character 
he would delineate by simply feeling the bumps, 
with no other means of arriving at such judgment. 

The proposition was accepted, and on the eve- 
ning in question a committee was appointed, and 
the professor, being properly hoodwinked, was pro- 
vided with a subject, who in this case happened to 
be an unfortunate creature who was sadly lacking 
in mental calibre, and was known about town as 
"Crazy Mary." 

The professor proceeded with his mental diag- 
nosis, and much to the surprise of his audience 
presented the subject to them as a lady of most 
remarkably strong character, and described her as 
possessing unusual talent in music, art and liter- 
ature, and other qualities which stamped her as a 
leader in society. 

At the conclusion of the test the professor was 
relieved of his bandage, and naturally inquired of 
his audience how nearly he had arrived at the 
truth, and when told of his mistake he stoutly con- 
tended that the subject would have possessed pre- 
cisely the qualities stated by him, had she not un- 



122 The Phrenologist 

fortunately lost her mind, a proposition that no- 
body was prepared to dispute. At all events, it 
was a sorry sort of a jest, and was strongly cen- 
sured by the kind-hearted people of the town, and 
the only excuse that could be urged by the offend- 
ing parties who had arranged the affair was the 
fact that the professor had displayed such insuffer- 
able vanity and egotism during his short sojourn 
among us that it was thought best to teach him a 
lesson, and as the professor departed on the fol- 
lowing day, very little was said about the matter. 

It was noticed, however, that those people who 
had parted with their money and secured the charts 
did not seem to set so high a value upon them as 
they did at the outset. 



CHAPTER XX 
The Mesmerist 

Naturally following in the wake of the 
disciple of Gall and Spurzheim, some- 
what later in the season we have been 
treated to a series of quite remarkable demonstra- 
tions by an exponent of the discovery by Mesmer 
of the power of mind over mind. It was the first 
display demonstrating the power of Mesmerism 
that our people had witnessed, and the demon- 
strator had no difficulty in filling the hall with 
curious spectators at ten cents a head. 

The mesmerist invited any person in the room 
who was willing to submit himself to his power to 
come forward to the platform, which invitation was 
accepted by several, and as the volunteers were 
known to the audience the genuineness of the dem- 
onstration was beyond question. 

That a person of strong nerves and normal mind 
could be placed so completely under the control of 
another mind, in so far as to do and perform any 
act that was required of him, was almost incon- 
ceivable; yet here were persons well known to the 
audience, who, after submitting to a few passes of 
the hand a steady look in the eyes by the mesmer- 
ist, were made to walk back and forth on the plat- 
form with arms folded and head erect, gazing out 
into space with a far-away look, as representing 

123 



124 The Mesmerist 

the great Napoleon looking towards his beloved 
France, while in exile on the island of St. Helena. 
Some younger subjects were made to dance a jig, 
a Highland fling or a sailor's hornpipe after the 
most approved fashion, and others posed as Wash- 
ington crossing the Delaware, or as Henry Clay or 
Daniel Webster making one of their great speeches 
in the United States Senate, or anything else that 
the mesmerist chose to suggest, and those who had 
any doubts as to his occult power in that line were 
thoroughly convinced by the demonstration. 

But there were certain revolting and uncanny 
features connected with the possession of the power 
of controlling the minds of others that did not 
commend itself to public favor, and everybody 
breathed more freely after he had shaken the dust 
of Arcadia from his feet and hied himself to other 
fields. 



CHAPTER XXI 
A Question of Honest Dealing 

The life of a Christian minister is largely de- 
voted to consultations with members of his 
own congregation and not infrequently with 
others who are not of his fold, but who in their 
mental distress come to him with their doubts and 
fears, and the many little vexations of daily life 
which require the help and encouragement of the 
stronger faith of one who has made a specialty of 
mental ills and their relief, and is in a better posi- 
tion to advise one in the face of discouragement 
and despondency. 

In this regard the minister stands very much in 
the position of the family physician, who ministers 
to the physical sufferings and diseases of his 
patients, while it is the Christian minister's duty to 
alleviate so far as possible the mental pain and 
distress of those who seek his aid. 

The questions that came up in these consulta- 
tions with the little minister, whose sermons in the 
court house during the winter and spring had 
awakened so much interest were of quite a differ- 
ent nature from those who were resting in the com- 
fortable and easy faith of what was known as the 
orthodox church, with its infallible creed to guide 
them and keep them in the straight and narrow 
path. The new doctrines which were being 

125 



126 A Question of Honest Dealing 

preached were not without their disturbing effect 
upon those who had become interested in them, and 
to their dismay the truth began to dawn upon them 
that their future happiness depended upon some- 
thing more than a mere confession of faith and a 
public profession of repentance and prayer for the 
remission of sins. It was becoming quite plain to 
them that faith alone without good works was a 
dead faith, and of no avail unless coupled with a 
good life. 

The death-bed confession with its attendant abso- 
lution at the hands of priest or parson, the fright- 
ened prayers of the confessed murderer on the 
morning of his execution with the assurance of 
complete forgiveness and immediate entrance into 
the society of angels in heaven was not consistent 
with the new teaching, and as one was left to think 
for himself on these matters, especially in the light 
of Christ's teachings, there was a tendency to in- 
quire more particularly into the meaning of cer- 
tain passages of Scripture. 



"Parson," said a near neighbor and a member 
of the orthodox church, "what does it mean to love 
your neighbor? When Christ says 'on this com- 
mandment hang all the law and the prophets 9 he 
must have meant something more than the mere 
sentiment that goes with the common idea of love. 



A Question of Honest Dealing 127 

"Now I have a neighbor, who I must say I do not 
love. He doesn't belong to my church, in fact he 
doesn't belong to any church. He's a queer sort of 
a fellow, never says much, and nobody seems to 
be able to make him out." 

"Is he industrious, and does he support his 
family?" inquired the minister. 

"0, yes, he is a good, hard-working man, and 
there's nothing wrong with him, so far as that 
goes." 

"Did you ever hear of his defrauding anybody?" 

"No, I believe he is honest; but he is queer, and 
then again he is not a professing Christian, and that 
goes a long way in this community, you know." 

"Let me tell you a story," said the minister. "A 
few years ago there was a man living in my neigh- 
borhood who was very much like your queer neigh- 
bor that you speak of. He was a taciturn man. 
His neighbors knew very little about him, and, you 
know, in a small community where everybody 
knows everybody's business they are inclined to 
look with suspicion on anybody who is not disposed 
to talk. However, this man was industrious and 
saving, and was one of the most prosperous farm- 
ers in the county. His family were always com- 
fortably clad and apparently well fed, and really 
nothing could be said against him, except that he 
was queer, and was apt to be rather short and 
crabbed with his neighbors. And then, again, he 



128 A Question of Honest Dealing 

was not a member of any church, and this was 
really the most serious cause of complaint against 
him. 

"One day a neighbor came to him wishing to 
purchase one of his oxen. It was a fine ox to all 
appearances, and, while the neighbor expected to 
have to pay a good price for him, he had set his 
heart on having that ox, even if he had to pay the 
highest price demanded. 

"The farmer naturally asked the question, 'What 
are you willing to give for him? 9 

" 'Why/ said his neighbor, 'I didn't want to pay 
more than one hundred and twenty-five dollars for 
him, but I've taken a fancy to the ox, and I am 
willing to give one hundred and fifty dollars for 
him.' 

" 'You can't have him at that price,' was the 
short response. 

" 'Why,' said his neighbor, 'I thought I was 
offering you an extra high price for him.' 

" 'Yes,' said the farmer, 'but I won't sell him 
for that price. He cost me one hundred and fifty 
dollars in the first place, but I have had the use of 
him for some time, and I have found out lately that 
he is not giving me the service that he did before, 
and in pulling heavy loads he lacks the strength 
that he had when I bought him. I will sell him to 
you for one hundred dollars, and if you want to 
pay that price you can have him.' 



A Question of Honest Dealing 129 

"That man loved his neighbor," added the min- 
ister. 

"I see," said the visitor; "so to love our neighbor 
really means a compliance with the Golden Rule, 
'Do unto others as you would have others do unto 
you.' But I don't see how that man could be very 
prosperous, in getting ahead in this world. Here 
he might have made a clear fifty dollars, and his 
neighbor was willing to pay it. Why shouldn't he 
take it?" 

"It is not a question of getting ahead in the 
world," said the minister. "It is simply a question 
of doing right. That man had a conscience that 
wouldn't allow him to defraud his neighbor or even 
allow his neighbor to defraud himself. 

"If all men were like this silent, crabbed farmer 
there would be no need of lawyers or courts of 
justice, because every man would be a law unto 
himself, and all his acts and dealings with his 
fellow men would be governed by a fixed principle 
of exact justice. The motto, 'Everyone for him- 
self, and the devil take the hindmost,' would give 
place to the spirit that was shown by this queer 
fellow, who, although practically ostracized by his 
neighbors and without the pale of the church was 
really carrying into his life the divine command, 
'Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.' In that 
one act of that man's life we see a faint glimmer of 
the divine justice of God in dealing with His poor, 



130 A Question of Honest Dealing 

erring children, and in his conscientious and just 
dealing with his neighbor he was perhaps unwit- 
tingly following out to the fullest extent the com- 
mandment of our Lord." 

"I concede that you are right," said his visitor, 
"and that we should all be just in our dealings 
with our fellow men, but how many are there who 
adopt that rule in their daily life? How could a 
man prosper in this world if he tried to be just in 
dealing with his neighbors, when his neighbors are 
unjust to him, and somebody is trying to get the 
best of him at every turn? 

"How could a merchant make a living for him- 
self and his family if he would sell only the best 
quality of goods at a high price, when his neighbor 
across the street is advertising his goods at a 
cheaper price? Everybody is going to buy at the 
cheapest place, and very few know enough about 
dry goods to examine the quality. I don't believe 
any man can be strictly honest and prosper in this 
world." 

"There is another side to that question that I don't 
think you have considered," replied the minister. 
"While that honest merchant may be losing trade, 
which for the time being is diverted by the enticing 
advertisements of his dishonest neighbor, that man 
is steadily building up a reputation in the com- 
munity, and establishing a character that stands for 
just and fair dealing, and sooner or later the word 



A Question of Honest Dealing 131 

is passed around, 'It doesn't pay to buy cheap 
goods, and it will cost you more in the end than 
buying a good article at a higher price. You go to 
Mr. Knight. His goods are always of the best qual- 
ity, for he won't sell any other kind, and while you 
pay him a little more than that "Cheap John" op- 
posite him, you know just what you are getting, and 
you get full value for every dollar you pay him.' 

"Do we ever stop to consider," continued the 
minister, "how little there is in this world of what 
we call common honesty? It is a lamentable fact 
that in this enlightened age it is found necessary 
to compel men to be honest in their dealings with 
their fellow men, and a large proportion of our 
law r s are framed for the protection of the individ- 
ual in his rightful possessions, and prescribing pun- 
ishments for unlawful trespass upon those rights 
by fraud and deceit. 

"If a child is left alone in the world without a 
natural protector, and with an inheritance which, if 
properly administered, will yield sufficient income 
for its maintenance and education, a guardian or 
curator is appointed to take charge of the estate 
during the minority of the child, and here the law 
steps in and compels that guardian to give a bond 
in double the value of the estate. The guardian 
may be perfectly honest and conscientious in deal- 
ing with the child's estate, but the law cannot dis- 
criminate between an honest man and a dishonest 



132 A Question of Honest Dealing 

man, and therefore requires absolute security as a 
guaranty that the child's property will not be dis- 
sipated by unsafe and hazardous investments. 

"How often do we hear of widows who have lost 
everything that they possessed by entrusting their 
little fortunes to relatives or friends in whom they 
had confidence, without requiring any security, and 
in many cases not even a promissory note. 

"A man who is really honest and conscientious 
in his dealings would not think of accepting a sum 
of money in trust without giving the most ample 
security for its safe return, and it is really a pity 
that the law which so carefully guards the inter- 
ests of a minor child should not extend the same 
protection to the widow, who as a rule knows 
nothing of business, which she has left entirely to 
her husband, and having been bereft of his support 
and guidance is left with the proceeds of a life 
insurance policy which her thoughtful husband has 
carried for years in order that she should not be 
left destitute in case of his death — in many of such 
instances we find a man who does not scruple to 
risk that sacred fund entrusted to him, in rash 
speculation, or mingling it with his own funds and 
using it in his business until misfortune overtakes 
him, and the widow's little fortune is swept away 
with his own. 

"In that case you would say that the man was 
not dishonest, but simply unfortunate in his busi- 



A Question of Honest Dealing 133 

ness, but if a guardian or curator had been ap- 
pointed for the widow with a good and sufficient 
bond the unfortunate occurrence never could have 
happened, and the man would have simply lost his 
own money. 

"A man whom you know to be of a generous, 
trusting nature comes to you with a substantial sum 
of money, and says, 'I don't know what to do with 
jhis money. I wish you would take care of it for 
me.' If you really love your neighbor and have a 
regard for his interest you will be apt to say, 'John, 
I would like to oblige you, but the responsibility of 
taking care of your money is more than I feel like 
assuming, and if anything should happen that re- 
sulted in its loss I would never forgive myself. But 
if you are afraid to trust yourself with the care of 
it, I will see that it is safely invested for you upon 
ample security, so that it will bring you in an 
income, and at the same time insure its repayment 
when it comes due." 

"That is obeying the divine command to love 
your neighbor as yourself. A really honest man if 
he holds any of your property in trust for you will 
take better care of it than if it were his own, and 
see that it is secured against possible loss, because 
he would much rather lose his own money than 
yours. 

"But there is something more," continued the 
minister, "and it is of much more importance in 



134 A Question of Honest Dealing 

this matter of just and fair dealing with our 
neighbor. 

"The laws of nature and of spirit work together 
in perfect harmony throughout all of God's crea- 
tion. We cannot put our hand in the fire without 
being burned. We know that by experience in 
childhood; therefore we are careful to keep at a 
safe distance from a red-hot stove, and we do not 
pick up live coals with our hands, because we know 
the natural consequences that follow the act. 

"But who is there that considers that there is 
also a spiritual law that governs all our acts, and 
involves a punishment that swiftly follows the com- 
mission of a wrongful deed, and leaves its impress 
on the soul, which if persisted in will endure to 
all eternity. If men were aware of this they would 
carefully refrain from doing injustice or injury 
to their fellows, from the most selfish of all 
motives, when they realize the fact that they would 
be hurting themselves more than their neighbors. 

" 'What shall it profit a man if he gain the whole 
world and lose his own soul?' 

"That wonderful storehouse that we call Mem- 
ory, that we carry with us through all our lives, 
does not die with the body. It goes with us into 
another world, and is a very real part of ourselves. 

"The memory of a wicked deed, an unjust act, 
an injury to our fellow man is something that can- 
not be washed away by any mere confession of 



A Question of Honest Dealing 135 

faith, or open profession of repentance and prom- 
ise to lead a better life. 

"When we pass into the other life we find our- 
selves stripped of the mask with which we have 
concealed from the world our evil thoughts and 
deeds in this life, and we have no cloak for them 
there, for in that world nothing is hidden that shall 
not be revealed." 

"How then can we be saved?" exclaimed his 
visitor in alarm, "for there are none of us who 
have not at some time in our lives been guilty of 
conduct which we would gladly blot out of our 
recollection, and now you say that all our past 
deeds are to be brought up in judgment against us. 
Is this not the judgment that is foretold, where the 
Book of Life is opened before our eyes, and the 
judgment of God is passed upon us, unless we have 
repented and pleaded for mercy, through the blood 
of Christ? Is that not our only hope of salvation?" 

"There is indeed a book of life," replied the 
minister, "and that book of life is our memory of 
past events — a book which is being written by our- 
selves from day to day throughout our lives. But 
happily there is another book that goes with us into 
that other world — a book of which we know 
nothing, and it is known only to God himself. 

"There is not a mortal born into this world whose 
mind in infant years has not been filled with pure, 
innocent thoughts. The most abandoned mother 



136 A Question of Honest Dealing 

who nurses her infant child at her breast is con- 
scious to some extent of the gentle influence that 
surrounds the little one whose angels do always 
behold the face of the Father. 

"All of these tender and innocent thoughts of 
infant years are stored away within the inmost re- 
cesses of the soul, and are preserved and protected 
from profanation and contamination with other 
thoughts of our mature years. This sealed book is 
the holy of holies, the dwelling place of God that 
is in every human being; and in the clear, open 
light of heaven where all our past is revealed to 
us, the remains of infancy that have been stored 
within this sealed book — this holy of holies, are 
also brought to light, and all the innocent thoughts 
of our babyhood, together with all the good 
thoughts of our mature years are brought to bear 
upon us in determining our future destiny. 

Like the twelve basketfuls with which our Lord 
fed the multitude, all the remains are gathered up, 
that nothing may be lost. And therein lies all our 
hopes of salvation. 

"We are not brought trembling and terror- 
stricken before a terrible Judge, there to receive 
our sentence for the deeds done in the body, but 
the book of our memory lies open before us, and 
we are left to review all our past deeds, in perfect 
freedom to discard all that is hateful to us, and 
cleave only to that which is good in us, while 



The World Beyond 137 

through the infinite mercy of God and His holy 
angels all the remains of goodness and innocence 
of our childhood, of which we have been uncon- 
scious, are brought to bear upon us in determining 
our choice for heaven or for hell." 



CHAPTER XXII 
The World Beyond 

Since his talk with the little minister, Mr. West- 
lake's mind had been much engrossed with 
the new ideas that had been advanced, as to 
the meaning of the many obscure passages in the 
Bible, and he w T as anxious for more light, despite 
the solemn warnings of his pastor and his brethren 
in the church advising him to beware of the dan- 
gerous doctrines that would lead him out of the 
fold into unknown paths. 

There was one subject that particularly inter- 
ested him, and which had been prolific of warm 
discussion with members of his own church, as to 
the resurrection of the natural body, and while the 
great day of the Resurrection with the wonderful 
scenes accompanying it had been vividly portrayed 
by preachers and evangelists, and had been ac- 
cepted by the religious world as a prophecy which 
would one day be fulfilled, it was by no means 
satisfactory to his mind, and in the light of calm 



138 The World Beyond 

reason — that divine gift that distinguishes man 
from beast, it was becoming very plain to his mind 
that there could be no resurrection of the natural 
body. In the first place, it was against all the laws 
of nature; and, secondly, if it should be so, accept- 
ing the common saying that all things are possible 
with God, the idea of returning to our decayed and 
worn-out bodies, even with new flesh on our bones, 
was extremely abhorrent to him. 

It was with these thoughts in his mind that he 
sought the minister again, finding him in his study, 
and receiving his hearty greeting. 

"Brother Watson," said he, "what do you be- 
lieve in regard to the resurrection of the body, and 
what we read in the Bible of rising out of our 
graves on the Last Day? It doesn't appeal to my 
reason and common sense, but there it is, in very 
plain words. Is there any rational explanation of 
the meaning of it?" 

"Yes," said the minister, "there is an explana- 
tion, and one which I think you will agree with me 
is much more rational and reasonable, and cer- 
tainly much more pleasant to contemplate, than the 
idea of a resurrection of the natural body, which in 
the course of many years has mingled with the dust, 
and in obedience to the laws of nature which gov- 
ern all material things has performed its service in 
enriching the soil and entered into vegetable and 



The World Beyond 139 

mineral life, until, as one of our poets puts it, we 
have become 'a brother to the oak. 9 

"As Paul has truly said, There is a natural body, 
and there is a spiritual body.' The spiritual body 
is born in us at the same time with our natural 
body, and it remains with us during our natural 
life. 

"What becomes of that spiritual body when life 
ceases in the natural body? It certainly does not 
die, nor does it remain in the natural body. 

"This is what happens. Soon after the lungs 
cease their respiration and the heart-beats are stilled, 
and the natural body becomes dead, a marvelous 
change takes place while we are gazing upon the 
face of our loved one, whose expression at first is 
that of one in sleep, until the features gradually 
become fixed and hardened as a marble statue. 
Then it is that the spiritual body has become com- 
pletely separated from the natural, and by a process 
known only to God and His angels the spiritual 
body has been drawn forth from the natural body, 
together with the soul and mind, with all the 
thoughts and affections which have constituted our 
life in this world, and the real man stands forth 
with his spiritual eyes opened, and he becomes 
conscious that he is in the spiritual world. That 
is the resurrection that takes place with every 
human being upon the death of the body. The 



140 The World Beyond 

resurrection spoken of in the Bible is the raising 
of the spiritual body out of the grave of its dead 
and decaying natural body. 

"The real man doesn't die when the body dies. 
He is merely separated from the bodily part that 
was of use to him in this world, while the real man 
continues to live, for he is man, not because of his 
body but because of his spirit. It is the spirit that 
thinks in man, and thought, together with affection, 
is what constitutes the real man. Therefore, what 
we call death is simply the passing of the real man 
from one world into another. 

"This truth has been clearly seen by the poets 
of all ages. The poet Spenser three centuries ago 
told us that 'Soul is form, and doth the body make, 9 
and it is that soul that is within the spiritual body 
through which God gives to us all the life that we 
possess. 

"Longfellow tells us that — 

" 'There is no Death ! What seems so is transition ; 
This life of mortal breath 
Is but a suburb of the life elysian, 
Whose portal we call Death.' 

"The existence of a spiritual body becomes evi- 
dent to any man who has suffered the amputation 
of a limb, and during the rest of his life is con- 
scious of the existence of the missing member. 



The World Beyond 141 

"A case of this kind occurred some years ago 
with a friend, who had the misfortune to cut him- 
self on the arm while pruning a fruit tree in his 
orchard, which eventually resulted in the loss of his 
entire arm, which was amputated near the shoulder. 
Shortly after the operation he became conscious of 
the fact that he still had an arm, although it was 
not visible, and he could actually feel the fingers 
close and unclose, and there was a constant sensa- 
tion of the real presence of the arm and hand. He 
was a scholarly man, a deep student and the phe- 
nomenon led him to make a thorough investigation 
of the subject. The result was that he is now preach- 
ing the same doctrines which I am explaining to 
you here." 

"Your idea of the resurrection is certainly more 
in consonance with reason and common sense than 
I have been taught," said Mr. Westlake, "and that 
brings up another subject which is closely akin to 
it, about which I would like to get your idea, and 
that is as to the nature of our life in the spiritual 
world?" 

"That opens up a very large subject," said the 
minister, "and one which vitally interests all of us. 
Hitherto we have had a very crude conception of 
the future life. The common idea has been that 
heaven is a place of eternal rest, or — 

" 'Where congregations ne'er break up, 
And Sabbaths have no end.' 



142 The World Beyond 

'This idea of eternal rest may be very attractive 
to one who, to use a common expression, is 'con- 
stitutionally tired,' but to an alert and active person, 
any man whose mind is absorbed in his work, 
whether it be of hand or head, can you imagine 
any more dreary and unsatisfactory existence than 
a life without the employment which has been the 
delight of the busy man of this world — a life of 
eternal rest? If we were to believe all the beautiful 
imagery that Milton has given us in his 'Paradise 
Lost 9 our idea would be that as soon as we are ad- 
mitted through the pearly gates we begin to sprout 
wings, which enable us to float around in space, and 
are provided with a golden harp, with which to sing 
praises to God all the rest of our lives, to all eter- 
nity. Wouldn't that be rather a monotonous way 
of spending one's time? The necessity for wings 
arose out of the purely natural idea that the spir- 
itual world is separated by long distances, requiring 
an aerial journey through space, in order to reach 
a certain portion of that celestial sphere. That idea 
could be wholly dispensed with, if we can believe 
that there is no such thing as space in the spiritual 
world ; that although there is an appearance of space 
as we view its scenery, and we may walk from one 
place to another, it is thought that brings presence, 
and the earnest desire of a newcomer to meet some 
dear friend who has preceded him some years be- 
fore will at once bring to him the presence of that 



The World Beyond 143 

friend. This may seem to you a novel idea, but if 
if there is such a thing as space in the spiritual 
world how could it contain the many billions and 
trillions who have passed from this life, in all these 
years since the creation of the world? Some of 
our scientists who are fond of dealing in statistics 
have attempted to give us some idea of the immen- 
sity of heaven, based on the idea of space as we 
know it in this world, but it is an idle fancy which 
is hardly worth a thought. 

"But as to this matter of employment, of course 
it is natural that we should associate heaven with 
the idea of rest, because it is safe to say that none 
of us take to hard manual labor in this world as a 
matter of choice, but we are spurred on to labor 
with the hope of laying aside a sufficient sum to 
support us in our old age when we are no longer 
able to work, and for the care and support of those 
of our family who are similarly situated. But let 
us take the case of a man who has gained a compe- 
tence during an active life, who has been persuaded 
to retire from business and enjoy the fruits of his 
toil; how long will that man be content to remain 
idle, so long as he is blest with health and strength, 
and how often do we see men of this description 
either expending their strength and activity in 
games and other out-of-door exercise, or in many 
cases becoming tired of the monotony of a life of 



144 The World Beyond 

pleasure and ease, coming back again to mingle 
with their fellow men in the marts of trade and com- 
merce? 

"The child who rides its hobby horse and romps 
with its little companions in their innocent games 
is obeying in a perfectly natural way the law of 
its being, which requires daily physical exercise if 
it would enjoy normal health. This is true of the 
man who works for the support of his family, and 
also of the wife and mother who is busily engaged 
with her household duties, and the daughters and 
sons as they advance in years naturally take up the 
burden (if we may call it such) and contribute 
their share in assisting their parents in their work. 

"This much may be said of the work of this 
world. 

"And as to the spiritual world, what is our em- 
ployment? As all things in the natural world have 
their origin in the spiritual world, which is the 
world of cause, it is not difficult to imagine our life 
in a world where every species of useful employ- 
ment is provided for us in which we may engage of 
our own free choice. We are not forced into a life 
of ceaseless drudgery, under the whip of a cruel 
taskmaster. Our heavenly Father allows each of 
us perfect freedom of choice, in these matters and 
never interferes with our free will as to our choice 
of employment. 



The World Beyond 145 

"But suppose we choose to do nothing? 

"Here we have a case of a young man in this 
world who is provided with an ample fortune. He 
has everything that money can purchase. He has 
no motive for engaging in any useful work and his 
worldly possessions naturally give him a position 
in what is miscalled our 'best society/ which is 
built entirely upon the possession of material 
wealth. Unless he has cultivated habits of industry 
and has the moral stamina to resist temptation he 
engages in a ceaseless round of pleasure; he be- 
comes addicted to intoxicating drink; he becomes 
an habitue of fashionable clubs, where private 
rooms are provided for indulging in games of 
chance, frequently resulting in the loss of thou- 
sands of dollars in a single night, and he thus frit- 
ters away his fortune and in time becomes reduced 
to poverty, having become a slave to intemperate 
habits and the use of poisonous drugs, until he 
reaches the lowest strata and becomes a common 
tramp or a dependent upon the charity of his 
friends and relatives. 

"The same thing happens to one who finds him- 
self in the spiritual world, where all his wants are 
supplied, who chooses to idly spend his time in 
company with those others who are leading a life 
of selfish enjoyment, and he will not be at a loss in 
finding that class of society in the world of spirits, 
where he is free to choose his own companionship, 



146 The World Beyond 

and select his future home, either in the heavens 
above or the hells beneath. 

"In the other case, we may safely affirm that heav- 
en is not a place of eternal rest, although we may 
all sympathize with the dear old lady who had led 
a toilsome and laborious life in this world, and 
when asked to give her idea of heaven, replied that 
to her it would be simply to sit in the kitchen with 
a clean apron and sing psalms; and yet we may 
imagine that, even in her case, finding herself in 
another world with renewed life and vigor and free 
from all aches and pains she would never be content 
with a life of ease and inactivity. 

"Suppose we should find that, after all, the poets 
were right in describing the spiritual world as the 
real world, of which this world is but the shadow? 
Looking at it in this light, is it not reasonable to 
suppose that the poet, the artist, the architect and 
builder, the engineer, the mechanic and artisan may 
find the same opportunity of pursuing a similar 
occupation in the spiritual world? 

"Most of us have some pet hobby or fad which 
we delight in following during our leisure hours. 
With some it is gardening, with others it is art, 
photography, music, astronomy, ornithology, zool- 
ogy, the growth of plant life, and many attractive 
fields which can be explored only to a limited ex- 
tent while engrossed with the duties and cares of 



The World Beyond 147 

this world. In the spiritual world he is free to 
engage in such employment to the fullest extent. 

"Is it merely a dream of the imagination? If so, 
let us continue to dream, and if the thought of it 
will make us less selfish, less absorbed in the strife 
for this world's wealth, more kind and gentle with 
our erring brother, and more inclined to walk in 
the path in which our Savior walked when he went 
about the world doing good, the dream will not 
have been in vain." 



CHAPTER XXIII 

Rewards and Punishments 

There is another matter that I don't under- 
stand/' said Mr. Westlake; "we all believe 
in the goodness and mercy of God, and I 
have been thinking a great deal on what you have 
said in regard to the way in which the Bible has 
been written, in order that it may be adapted to all 
minds. But there are some things, when we con- 
sider the omnipotence and the omnipresence of God 
with us, that are very hard to reconcile with certain 
conditions that we find in this world. We see good 
people suffering poverty and sickness, through no 
fault of their own. On the other hand, we see self- 
ish, grasping people constantly enriching them- 
selves at the expense of others, living in palatial 
homes and surrounded, with all the comforts and 
luxuries that money can buy. We are taught that 
God is all-seeing and all-powerful, and yet He suf- 
fers this condition of affairs. There must be some 
compensation for this, and the deserving should 
have their reward, either here or hereafter." 

"Yes," said the minister, "they certainly will 
have their reward sometime, but that reward de- 
pends entirely upon the spirit in which one's lot in 
life is accepted. It doesn't necessarily follow that 
one who suffers poverty and sickness in this life 
must be good, or that one who has riches must neces- 

148 



Rewards and Punishments 149 

sarily be bad. There are many who in the midst of 
poverty and sickness are cheerful, contented and 
ready to suffer and endure, with a firm faith in the 
goodness and mercy of God, and there are others 
who are envious, selfish, and full of hatred towards 
their more fortunate neighbors. On the other hand, 
there are persons who have an abundance of the 
world's goods who are living beautiful lives, who 
are constantly engaged in an effort to benefit those 
around them, and who delight in engaging in all 
sorts of good deeds. They are the faithful stewards 
who are mindful of the responsibility that has been 
placed upon them in being put in a position where 
they should make the proper use of what has been 
entrusted to them. Then again, there are also those 
who have, as you say, been selfish and grasping all 
their lives, and have made no use of their ill-gotten 
gains, except for their own selfish gratification and 
that of their immediate family. In all these cases 
the law of compensation works with unerring 
accuracy. 

"When we wonder why God, who is all powerful, 
would permit this seeming injustice, we forget that 
God works by laws which are unchangeable as the 
laws of nature. There is an old adage that 'the 
mills of God grind slowly, but they grind ex- 
ceeding small.' This is true of the eternal justice 
of God's laws. The law of compensation may not 
be apparent to us in times of trial and misfortune, 



150 Rewards and Punishments 

but the laws of eternal justice work with absolute 
accuracy, and in the end each will get exactly what 
should come to him, if not in this world, certainly 
in the next. 

4 'Many of us who have lived to mature years, in 
looking back over our past life will see what might 
be termed a crisis, where one step to the right or 
the left would determine our whole future career; 
and looking back to what we have thought to have 
been a wrong step and a fatal mistake from a 
worldly point of view, in the clear, calm light of 
the present we become conscious that we made no 
mistake after all, but that the guiding hand of 
Providence was in it all, and that it is far better 
as it is. 

"Take the poor man, and endow him with all the 
wealth that he has been yearning for, and the pos- 
session of that wealth may be the worst thing that 
could happen to him, from a moral standpoint. 

"God's ways are not our ways, but of this we 
may be certain, that in the end each one will re- 
ceive his just reward, and his reward will be ac- 
cording to his works. 

"If a man has given up his whole life to the ac- 
cumulation of riches, looking only to his own selfish 
interest, pushing aside this one and that one who 
are in his way, defrauding his neighbor, and re- 
sorting to every dishonest device to gain a few 
dollars and add to his accumulations, there is a 



Rewards and Punishments 151 

stain upon that man's soul that nothing will wash 
away, and in the sight of the angels the wealth that 
he has accumulated in this world is as so much 
dirt and filth, while the man has starved his soul 
and crushed out every generous impulse in his mad 
pursuit of wealth that he cannot carry with him, and 
when death overtakes him he enters another world 
with none of his worldly wealth, but with all the 
sins that he has committed in his insane greed in 
the accumulation of the fortune that he has left 
behind; and whatever punishment he may endure 
results from his wrong deeds, and is something that 
he has brought upon himself by his own conduct 
in this world. With such a man there will indeed 
be weeping and gnashing of teeth, and the worst 
physical sufferings that can be pictured in a literal 
lake of fire and brimstone are nothing compared 
with the mental torture that that man must endure 
when he is brought into a full realization of the 
sins that he has committed in his past life, in his 
insane greed for the world's wealth." 

"There is another question that I would like to 
ask," said Mr. Westlake. "Do you believe in a per- 
sonal devil?" 

"No," replied the minister, "all the inhabitants 
of hell are devils, but there is no head devil who 
rules supreme over the hells. If such were the case 
he would be a being co-equal with God, which can- 
not possibly be, since all life is from God and He is 



152 Rewards and Punishments 

present everywhere, even in the lowest parts of hell, 
and His life is in all, for none could exist without 
Him/ 5 

"That brings up another question," said his vis- 
itor. "Since, as you say, all life is from God, and 
God is good, where does evil come from?" 

"Now we come to the question of the origin of 
evil," said the minister, "and it is a question that 
has disturbed many good people in all ages. I 
don't think I can make my views on this point any 
clearer than by comparing the life of God which 
is in every one, with the light and heat of our natural 
sun, which is the source of all life in the vegetable 
kingdom. 

"We know that the light and heat of the sun, 
which is absolutely pure at its source, may become 
vitiated, impure and poisonous by reason of the 
medium through which it passes. The same sun- 
light which gives life and growth to the plant that 
furnishes us with food for our bodies also gives 
life to poisonous plants, which if eaten would de- 
stroy the life of the body. In that case, as with the 
poisonous atmosphere, the life that was pure at its 
source becomes impure and noxious by reason of 
the nature of the plant through which it passes. 

"Carry this thought up to human life. God's 
life is in every mortal being. It begins in the in- 
nocence of the babe, but as the child matures, the 
nature of its environment, combined perhaps with 



Rewards and Punishments 153 

an evil heredity, causes the child to deviate from 
its first innocence into evil ways, and the life of 
God that existed in its purity in infancy becomes 
perverted in after years and thus we find that what 
we call evil is simply perverted good. 

"It is not God's will that any of His children 
should be so far sunk in evil and sin as to be 
wholly lost, and there is a constant effort on His 
part to prevent the human race from falling into 
sin and thus bringing upon themselves the natural 
consequences that must follow that course. But 
man has been created a free agent endowed with 
reason and intelligence, which enables him to 
choose between good and evil, otherwise he would 
not be a rational being, but a human machine with 
no personal responsibility for his acts. 

"God works through His divine laws, which, as 
I have said before, are fixed and immutable. 
God did not create evil, but man produces it 
by turning into evil the good life that is constantly 
flowing into him from God." 



CHAPTER XXIV 
Interviewing the Spirits 

It is the year 1850, a season when the peaceful 
quiet and calm of our little Arcadia is experi- 
encing a slight jar, occasioned by the mysteri- 
ous phenomenon known as "The Rochester Knock- 
ings," in which two young women living in the city 
of Rochester, New York, have come to the front as 
the first and original spiritual mediums, and the 
newspapers and magazines are reveling in the su- 
pernatural, the evidence of which is discovered in 
the mysterious rappings which are heard in their 
home, for which no human agency has been dis- 
covered. It is not long before the existence of this 
phenomenon in the home of the Fox sisters has 
extended to other cities and towns where persons 
of the mediumistic type are having the same ex- 
perience, and we read of cases where a small num- 
ber of curious investigators have found that the 
unusual noises have been produced, where in the 
presence of the "medium" and arranged in a circle 
around a small table a series of soft taps are heard 
apparently underneath the table top, in answer to 
certain questions asked by one of the group, where 
two taps are heard as an affirmative answer to a 
question or one tap for a negative response, after 
which it is sought to obtain the message from the 
mysterious source by the slow process of going 

154 



Interviewing the Spirits 155 

over the alphabet, when a tap is heard indicating 
that the right letter has been reached, until the full 
communication has been received. This tedious 
process of obtaining communications from disem- 
bodied spirits is soon afterwards followed by more 
remarkable demonstrations known as "table tip- 
ping," which is shown in a partially darkened room 
where the occupants behold the astonishing exhibi- 
tion of the rising of an ordinary library table 
placed in the center of the room, which is elevated 
several feet in the air, the room having previously 
been examined in open daylight by a committee se- 
lected by the persons in attendance, where no evi- 
dence of the existence of any wires or other attach- 
ment to the table has been discovered, which might 
produce the result shown. Still another phase of 
the existence of a supernatural power is later dis- 
covered by the obtaining of written communications 
through mediums, who are supposed to be under 
the control of one or more of the inhabitants of the 
unseen world. Still later another species of dem- 
onstration is said to occur, when for the first time 
the word "spiritual seance" occurs, where for the 
modest entrance fee of 50 cents one is admitted to 
a large room or hall in which are assembled a num- 
ber of men and women, who witness in a dim light 
all sorts of remarkable phenomena, where drums, 
horns and other musical instruments are seen float- 
ing through the air, giving forth sounds, while per- 



156 Interviewing the Spirits 

haps one of the assembly who is particularly sus- 
ceptible to the "influence" is startled by the sound 
of a voice, perhaps of a little child, claiming to be 
that of one who, years before, passed out of this 
world, or the familiar voice of a deceased wife or 
intimate friend, who confirms him in his partial 
belief of the reality of the presence by bringing to 
his mind some circumstance which in the lapse of 
years has passed entirely out of his memory. 

The details of these remarkable occurrences 
which are heralded in the columns of the daily 
press and magazines in the East, and especially in 
publications which have sprung up in response to 
a popular demand for an organ exclusively de- 
voted to the publication of such details — all of this 
has reached our quiet little village, exciting the 
minds of the reading class and providing an inter- 
esting topic in the absence of any startling occur- 
rences to disturb the monotony of our quiet life. 

Among those who are most interested in the new 
movement we find our friend Mr. Westlake, who, 
in quest of some explanation of the mysterious phe- 
nomena, has called upon the little minister, who 
has already been the means of opening his mind in 
a direction which theretofore was to him an en- 
tirely new field of inquiry. 

"Brother Watson, what is your idea as to the 
genuineness of some of these communications? Of 
course, there must be more or less deception in 



Interviewing the Spirits 157 

these manifestations, especially when the commer- 
cial element creeps in, and the adroit trickster sees 
a chance of making some money by imposing on 
the credulous, but there seems to be some excep- 
tional cases in which the origin of the phenomena 
cannot be traced to natural causes. Have you had 
any experience in this line by attending one of these 
spiritual seances?" 

"No," replied the minister, "but I have kept 
very fully informed through the press and private 
correspondence with those who have witnessed the 
exhibitions. While many of these manifestations 
bear on their face the fact that deception has been 
practiced, I have learned of cases which would 
properly come under the head of unexplainable 
phenomena, especially the case where a person 
hears the familiar voice of one who has made his 
or her identity known by recalling some incident 
happening years ago which has long since been 
forgotten. 

"Suppose we admit that in an exceptional case of 
this kind the communication may be accepted as 
coming from the spiritual world, which is not at all 
impossible; such communications are undoubtedly 
from spirits of a lower class, who delight in deceiv- 
ing us, in the same manner as a professional pres- 
tidigitator will perform his tricks in a brilliantly 
lighted room, where it would seem impossible to 
escape detection, although he tells his audience at 



158 Interviewing the Spirits 

the outset that he will deceive them despite their 
most careful scrutiny of his movements. 

"We have lately witnessed in this town some 
remarkable exhibitions of mesmerism, where the 
subject's mind is brought so entirely under the 
control of the mesmerist as to cause him to do 
things which he would not think of doing in his 
normal state. It is an exhibition of the control of 
one mind over another, which we all recognize as 
a most dangerous power, which might result in the 
complete mental wreck of the unfortunate victim if 
continued indefinitely by the mesmerist. There are 
instances of this nature in the case of a boy or girl 
who has come under the influence and power of a 
man of this description who is in daily intimate 
association with his victim. 

"When we find this power lodged in a mere mor- 
tal, usually a man who is not of the highest order 
of intelligence, we can easily conceive of how much 
more powerful would be the influence of a disem- 
bodied spirit of a low order in the other world, who 
is capable of exploring the mind of one who may 
be most easily approached, not only as to his pres- 
ent recollection, but also probing into what we know 
as the sub-conscious mind, containing the memory 
of events which have been entirely forgotten in the 
lapse of years, to be brought to his mind in a way 
that he cannot explain except that the person con- 



Interviewing the Spirits 159 

versing with him is really his old friend, who is the 
only one who could recall the incident to his mind. 
"But the underlying question which occurs to us 
at the outset in connection with these manifesta- 
tions, which would warrant us in pursuing the in- 
vestigations into the occult, is a practical one. Of 
what benefit is it to us, aside from the revelation 
of the existence of another world into which we 
pass after the death of the body, of which we al- 
ready have abundant proof in the plain language 
of the Scriptures, the absolute and repeated assur- 
ance in the words of our Savior while on earth? 
What has come to us in the shape of communica- 
tions through spiritual mediums that exceeds or 
equals the writings and utterances of the best minds 
of our day? We have been regaled from time to 
time with communications professedly emanating 
from such great statesmen as Washington, Jeffer- 
son, Webster, and others. How do these communi- 
cations compare with the powerful and eloquent 
words from these eminent men which fill the pages 
of history in state papers and public addresses by 
them while on this earth? It is painful to read 
these tame and vapid utterances which are said to 
come to us from them through these mediums, and 
it is not surprising that our newspaper writers in 
commenting upon such communications deplore the 
mental deterioration which those great minds have 



160 Interviewing the Spirits 

undergone since their departure from this world 
into another sphere. 

"But there is another feature connected with this 
subject which is far more serious in its dangerous 
effect upon one who has become a confirmed spir- 
itualist, and, like the unfortunate victim of the mes- 
merist, has allowed himself to be completely con- 
trolled by this lower class of spirits who delight in 
deceiving their unfortunate dupes. What is the 
result? It is not a difficult matter to foretell the 
future of a man who has given himself up to such 
control, carrying with it a loss of his own mentality 
and strength of character, who has become an idle 
dreamer, and who has lost his ability to earn a liv- 
ing for himself and family — the complete ruin of a 
life whose promising future was evidenced by his 
career before coming under the power of this bale- 
ful influence. Such has been the fate of the avowed 
spiritualist who is constantly exposed to the influ- 
ence of these mischievous inhabitants of the lower 
realm of the spiritual world. It is no fancy picture. 
We have such cases before our eyes, even in this 
early stage of the new cult, of men spending their 
lives in idleness, neglecting their occupations, be- 
coming a burden to their families and a subject of 
scorn and contempt with their fellow men. 

"There is still another and even more dangerous 
aspect of this new cult, considered from a religious 
point of view, and that is the fact that its votaries 



Interviewing the Spirits 161 

are led to completely ignore the Bible, and we have 
no evidence of its being used or read during their 
meetings and, so far as I have been able to learn, 
their services, if we may so call them, are never 
opened or closed with prayer. The divinity of 
Christ is denied so far as there is any reference to 
Him, except as a remarkable medium who per- 
formed His miracles through the power of the 
spirits who controlled Him during His life on earth. 
This fact in itself should be sufficient warning to 
every Christian man or woman throughout the civ- 
ilized world to beware of the influence of this dan- 
gerous heresy which would induce them to eschew 
the faith of their ancestors and cast aside the pre- 
cepts of that divine Book which for centuries has 
been the rock of our salvation and has held us to- 
gether in the strong bonds of Christian fellowship." 



CHAPTER XXV 

More Changes 

A lapse of three years has brought its changes, 
and a call to another charge in the northern 
-part of an adjoining state has necessitated 
the breaking of old ties, and separation from many 
good friends in our beautiful little Arcadia, which 
has become so dear to our hearts, and we are trans- 
planted, as it were, into another beautiful little vil- 
lage which is known as the garden spot of the state, 
with its broad streets and its luxuriant shade trees, 
and a chain of charming little lakes bordering it on 
the north, whose clear, cool waters greet the eyes of 
the weary traveler passing through on the rail- 
road — for we are now in touch with the rest of the 
world by rail. The road has just been completed 
to Chicago, and for the first time that enterprising 
little city is enjoying railway communication with 
the East. 

The change has brought new and larger activities 
to all of us. Brother John is publisher of the lead- 
ing weekly newspaper of the place, and Willie is 
assisting him in the printing office. Alfred, who 
upon the completion of his schooling returned to the 
telegraph service, has been stationed at a prominent 
point in Michigan, but has incontinently thrown up 
his position upon learning of the removal of the 
family to their new home, declaring that he is not 

162 



More Changes 163 

going to be left out of the family circle if he can 
find employment at home. It has not been such 
a rash proceeding, however, as it might seem, and 
the bright and capable young fellow has been in- 
stalled in the court house as deputy clerk, and at 
the same time his younger brother has made his 
first venture out in the world by following in his 
footsteps and entering the telegraph office as mes- 
senger. From messenger boy to telegraph operator 
was but an interval of a few months, with an ambi- 
tious boy, and his 14th birthday found him in 
charge of an office of his own. 

It was not father's wish to see his baby boy 
launching out into the world at an age when he 
should be at school; on the contrary, it had been 
his darling wish to see one of his sons in Harvard 
or Yale, and he had hoped that his youngest might 
have that honor, but poor father had no means to 
send his boy to college, and his boy couldn't remain 
at home and eat the bread of idleness, with father's 
scanty means of support, which was barely sufficient 
for those who needed it, and there was nothing for 
the son of a poor preacher but the world's work and 
self -education on the practical side of life. Then, 
too, the work had its fascination and charm, and 
daily contact with men and the sense of care and 
responsibility carried with it very much that goes 
into the making of a man. 



164 More Changes 

The telegraph station was not far from home, 
either, and the railway telegrapher at that time 
needed no pass. He was known by all the con- 
ductors, and was privileged to step on the train at 
any hour of the day or night and ride to his home or 
elsewhere on the road without being called upon 
for his railroad fare, and Saturday night would 
find him at his home with the family, where he 
would remain over Sunday, returning in time for 
duty on Monday morning refreshed and rested, and 
ready for another week's work. 

The old-time telegraph office has left its strong 
impress on the memory of those whose recollec- 
tion extends to that period. The office proper was 
usually a small room, not larger than about 8 by 10 
feet, and fenced off with a railing from the public, 
who were confined to a small ante-room and not 
allowed to enter the operating room. In the oper- 
ating room was a high desk and stool, and on the 
desk was the mysterious piece of mechanism by 
which the written message was conveyed the dis- 
tance of hundreds of miles within an incredibly 
short space of time — one of the marvels of the age. 
A distinguishing feature that greeted the nostrils of 
the visitor was a strong odor of nitric or sulphuric 
acid, emanating from the local battery that was re- 
quired to operate the "register" — a large brass 
clockwork affair, through which was passed a nar- 
row ribbon of paper unwound from a reel sus- 



More Changes 165 

pended from the right-hand side of the desk, while 
at the left hand was a deep wooden box that received 
the long slip of paper which had passed through 
the register with its impress of dots and dashes, 
from which the operator would copy into longhand 
the message that had been received. 

The first telegraph operator was usually an eld- 
erly man, an editor, a lawyer, or justice of the 
peace — any prominent citizen who had succeeded 
in mastering the Morse alphabet sufficiently to 
decipher the dots and dashes, and w r as willing to 
assume charge of the office. Thus the public were 
sufficiently impressed with the dignity and responsi- 
bility of the operator to be willing to entrust their 
secrets into his keeping. 

It was not long, however, before this condition 
of things was changed, and some young fellows who 
started as messenger boys began to catch on to the 
work and so far outdistanced the boss that he was 
glad enough to entrust the operating into their 
hands, and one day a bright young fellow discov- 
ered that he did not need the clumsy old register at 
all, but could read and write down the message by 
the sound of the dots and dashes and, although this 
innovation was prohibited for some time, as it was 
not considered safe, the officials finally became con- 
vinced of its accuracy and improvement over the 
old method, and the register was discarded and 



166 More Changes 

replaced by a neat little apparatus known as a 
"sounder." 

The fascination that attaches to telegraphy and 
always remains with one, no matter how long he 
may have been out of the service, is largely due to 
the pleasant social relations existing between oper- 
ators hundreds of miles apart, who have become so 
intimate with each other through conversations be- 
tween the intervals of business as to recognize each 
other's method of manipulating the "key," and their 
call is like that of a familiar voice. 

In dull seasons the time would be filled in with 
a game of chess, played by numbering the squares, 
and indicating the move of each piece, and at times 
the operators at the various stations would amuse 
themselves by propounding conundrums, telling 
stories, and so on. These play spells, however, 
have relation only to the early days of the telegraph. 



CHAPTER XXVI 
Early Telegraph Days 

The duties of the telegraph operator in early 
days were most pleasant and agreeable. The 
business of train dispatching on the railroad, 
with all the countless rules and regulations, involv- 
ing the reporting of trains, the counting of passing 
freight cars, the turning of switches by a switch 
block in the office, and all the other burdensome 
duties which make the telegraph service on railways 
a ceaseless drudgery, was not then known. The 
railroad made very little use of the telegraph, and 
trains were run by the safe but slow time-card 
rules. The telegraph was used principally for 
hunting up lost baggage or delayed freight ship- 
ments. The superintendent found it convenient 
when on the road to telegraph to his headquarters 
and ascertain what, if any, letters might have ar- 
rived during his absence, and other little details 
connected with his office. It was also a convenience 
for the railroad eating house manager to know 
about how many passengers were expected for 
dinner. 

At the small stations there was more or less pub- 
lic business, telegrams from belated passengers to 
their families, some good Catholic nearing the point 
of death sending for the priest to administer ex- 
treme unction, telegrams of congratulation at wed- 

167 



168 Early Telegraph Days 

dings and births, and, alas, the fatal death message 

— " — died this morning' 9 — a hard task Tor 

the sympathetic young operator who was required 
to deliver his own messages. 

I remember on one occasion at about noon a dis- 
patch was received — "Minnie died this morning. 
Come at once." It was a young girl who had been 
attending school in a distant city, who at last ac- 
counts was in perfect health. As I stepped to the 
door of the home with the fatal message the family 
had just sat down to dinner, and were laughing and 
talking with no thought of the dark shadow that 
was approaching that would turn into mourning 
their happy home. I handed the telegram to the 
father at the head of the table, who opened it and 
read it, and, controlling himself with a mighty 
effort, he handed it silently to his wife. I waited 
no longer, but as I left the house the lamentations 
of that stricken household sounded in my ears for 
many hours afterwards. 

Happily these heart-breaking incidents were few. 

One morning I was aroused at an early hour by 
a young banker who had arrived the night before 
from Toledo, having with him a small valise con- 
taining five thousand dollars in currency. As the 
train arrived at a late hour he had fallen asleep in 
his seat, and awakened just in time to see the name 
of his station as the train was pulling out and, in a 
dazed condition, acting upon the first impulse, he 



Early Telegraph Days 169 

rushed to the platform of the car and jumped from 
the train, leaving the valise on the seat. It was use- 
less to arouse the operator at that hour, as there 
were no night operators, but at an early hour he 
called on me and at 8 o'clock the next morning I 
succeeded in signalling the operator at the next 
station at which the train was due to arrive, 150 
miles distant, with a message to the conductor, de- 
scribing the missing valise and its location in the 
car, and the conductor found it resting securely on 
the seat, where it had remained undisturbed during 
the night, and telegraphed the fact, much to the 
joy of its owner. 

It may be of interest to add that years after- 
wards, at the close of the Civil War, this same 
young banker had become a brigadier general, and 
later founded a university in the South for colored 
students that bears his name and, still later, was 
nominated for the Presidency on the Prohibition 
ticket. 



The superintendent of our telegraph company 
was a tall, solemn-looking man, who visited us 
occasionally and, although we had great respect for 
him, his extreme economy in small matters rendered 
him decidedly unpopular with his operators, and 
the boys grew very tired of being scolded for using 
what he considered an unnecessary number of lead 
pencils in their work. But the company was poor, 



170 Early Telegraph Days 

and in debt, and the superintendent himself was 
shabbily dressed and bore evidence of poverty. I 
have seen the corporation sold for delinquent taxes 
at a sheriff's sale at our station, and the stock of 
the company was considered not worth the paper 
upon which it was printed. 

There were but two lines in the west running to 
Chicago, one on the Michigan Central railroad from 
Detroit, and the other one the Lake Shore & Michi- 
gan Southern railroad from Toledo and, in addition 
to this, there were some old, rotten wires running 
through the southern part of the state which were 
out of use nine-tenths of the time by reason of dam- 
age by storms of wind and lightning, and not in- 
frequently where the falling poles had prostrated 
the wire to the ground the farmers living along the 
line had confiscated the wire, or as much as they 
needed, and used it for repairing their fences, and 
other purposes. 

Our superintendent had a large amount of this 
telegraph stock, and had great faith in its ultimate 
value — a faith which I am happy to say was fully 
realized in after years, when a company which had 
been operating in the East, backed by large capital, 
organized what was known as the Western Union 
Telegraph Company, having for its basis the orig- 
inal stock in what had been known as the Speed and 
O'Reilly lines, of which our company was a part, 
and agents began to scour the country for those 



Early Telegraph Days 171 

original stock certificates, which advanced from par 
to ten, fifteen and even twenty times their face 
value. Our poor superintendent became one of the 
wealthy men of the country and, with the money 
realized from the sale of his stock and with far- 
sighted wisdom which others have since emulated, 
founded and endowed a university in western New 
York which bears his name and which has become 
one of the famous institutions of learning of our 
country. His palatial home was always open to his 
old telegraph boys who called upon him, where they 
were entertained with royal hospitality. 

Thus from small beginnings, after years of pri- 
vation and poverty, a magnificent fortune sprang 
into existence, and the generous and philanthropic 
use which its possessor has made of it has made 
the name of Ezra Cornell famous throughout the 
educational world. 



CHAPTER XXVII 
The Confederates 

The telegraph operator in the small stations 
and towns was an important individual, and 
was treated with marked consideration, and 
if the incumbent happened to be a small boy he 
was looked upon as a curiosity. In the infancy of 
the invention of Professor Morse it was a marvel to 
the citizens, that a mere boy could not only send 
messages over the wires, but could read by sound 
the dots and dashes that constituted the Morse al- 
phabet and write it out in plain English that any- 
body could read, and he was regarded with won- 
dering admiration that was absolutely embarrassing 
to a modest boy, who might have developed con- 
siderable "bumptiousness" in view of the many 
compliments that were showered upon him, did he 
not possess an average supply of common sense 
which, combined with a sense of responsibility and 
the fact that he was entrusted at times with weighty 
secrets, necessitated the maintenance of a certain 
air of dignity and reticence which hardly com- 
ported with his extreme youth. 

Occasionally, however, matters would come up 

in connection with the business of the office which 

would place him in a peculiarly unpleasant position. 

One day a man came into the office accompanied 

by a flashily-dressed young woman and wrote a 

172 



The Confederates 173 

dispatch to a party in New York. There was some- 
thing in the manner and air of the man that excited 
my suspicion at the outset, and I felt that the 
woman who accompanied him was not just the 
person I would like to see, if the pair were really 
husband and wife. The telegram, too, was mys- 
teriously worded, but my duty was plain as an 
official of the company, and I had simply to count 
up the words, tell him the price, take his money and 
send the message. He paid for it in gold, a three- 
dollar gold piece, apparently fresh from the mint, 
and the first coin of that description that we had 
seen out West. Notwithstanding my suspicions, 
there was nothing for me to do but to keep quiet 
and say nothing to my associates at the station. The 
message required an answer and the couple seemed 
inclined to camp on my trail until they received it. 
At six o'clock, which was the hour for closing the 
office, I told them they would have to wait till morn- 
ing for the answer, as the office was not open during 
the night. They were very much disturbed about 
having to wait that length of time, and the man, who 
had a supercilious and overbearing air about him, 
made some remark that was anything but compli- 
mentary to the telegraph service, and the couple 
went to their hotel, very much to my relief. Early 
the next morning, however, they again appeared, 
and manifested the greatest impatience at not re- 
ceiving the answer. The man, with a bullying air, 



174 The Confederates 

demanded that I should at once send an office mes- 
sage to New York and ascertain whether the dis- 
patch had been delivered, but while he was talking 
a call came in from Toledo, our nearest repeating 
office connected with the East, and to my great relief 
as well as theirs, the answer came, which was quite 
as mysteriously worded as the original message 
that had been sent. The couple took it and retired 
to a corner of the waiting room where, after a long 
and whispered conference, the man returned and 
wrote another dispatch, much longer than the first, 
which hfc paid for with another bright three-dollar 
gold piece, and was more insistent than ever that 
there should be no delay in its delivery and the 
securing of an immediate reply. 

The couple hung around my office all the fore- 
noon, when No. 9 passed from the east, and after 
it had left the station the agent beckoned me to come 
out on the platform, and whispered to me to step 
across the tracks to the freight office, which was on 
the opposite side from the passenger station. I 
went over to the freight office and the agent intro- 
duced me to a quiet, unobtrusive-looking man who 
asked me to step into a little room adjoining where 
he opened the inside of his coat and showed me a 
small star, stating at the same time that he was a 
New York detective in pursuit of a fugitive from 
justice. He questioned me closely as to the descrip- 
tion of the man and woman, and the substance of 



The Confederates 175 

the telegrams which had been sent and received, 
which, under the circumstances, I felt at liberty to 
disclose, so far as I could recollect, and also showed 
him the three-dollar gold pieces which had been 
paid to me for the messages, which seemed to fur- 
nish him more satisfactory proof than anything else. 
He suggested that I return to the office to hold them 
in conversation for a few minutes, which I did, and 
while I was assuring the couple that the answer to 
the last telegram would undoubtedly come inside of 
an hour, the detective quietly entered the room and 
stepped up to the man with a drawn revolver and 
informed him that he was under arrest. Of course, 
there was a scuffle, and the man attempted to draw 
his revolver, which the detective adroitly prevented, 
and the woman screeched, and also drew a revolver 
from her pocket, but at this juncture Ed. Buckley, 
our freight agent, a big giant of a fellow, who had 
followed the detective into the room, quickly pin- 
ioned her arms and disarmed her, and the pair were 
handcuffed and held at the station until the next 
east-bound train arrived, when they were taken 
back to New York. 

The man and his paramour had been engaged in 
a bank robbery in New York, where they had se- 
cured a large amount of money, principally in 
three-dollar gold pieces, such as had been paid me 
for the dispatches. 



CHAPTER XXVIII 
Early Railroading in the West 

It is instructive to look back a half-century and 
consider the conditions that prevailed in the 
early days of railroading, and contrast some 
of its disagreeable features with the many comforts 
and luxuries to which the traveler is accustomed 
at this day. 

The first railroad lines that had succeeded in 
reaching the city of Chicago in the year 1852 were 
the Michigan Central from Detroit and the Michi- 
gan Southern and Northern Indiana from Toledo, 
both of which roads reached Chicago about the 
same time. 

The eastern portion of the Michigan Central, 
which began the work of construction in 1847, was 
more properly a tramway at the start, consisting 
of a strap rail about an eighth of an inch in thick- 
ness, spiked to "stringers" — wooden rails laid end 
to end. It was a common occurrence after the train 
had passed over the strap rail to find that the spikes 
that fastened the end of the rail to the wooden 
"stringer" had been loosened, and the strap rail 
would pull out the spikes and fly up in the air a 
foot or two, which prevented any further traffic until 
it had been spiked back again on the "stringers." 
These "snake heads," as they were called, were of 
such frequent occurrence that the engineers were 

176 



Early Railroading in the West 177 

constantly on the watch for them, and it was ex- 
tremely unsafe for a train to run after nightfall, 
consequently there were no night trains. 

It required between five and six years to com- 
plete either of the roads to Chicago, and in the 
meantime the T-rail came upon the scene and suc- 
ceeded the strap rail, which was a long step in rail- 
road progress. 

Imagine a day's ride on the old-time railroad on 
a hot summer day, with every window open and a 
hail of cinders with a cloud of smoke and dust 
pouring in, so completely filling the interior of the 
coach that it was difficult to see from one end to the 
other, and as a protection against the shower of 
cinders, smoke and dust the regulation outfit of the 
traveler was a long linen duster reaching down to 
the heels and closely buttoned up to the throat. 

With no vestibules, and a space of at least 12 
inches between platforms, it was a risk of life to 
pass from one car to another while under full head- 
way, especially for a woman and child. 

While the T-rail was an immense improvement 
over the strap iron, the ends of the rails soon became 
battered and worn down and the space between the 
ends widened, causing a continuous bumping in 
passing from one rail to the other, and amid the 
rattle and bang of the train would be heard the 
hoarse voice of the brakeman announcing the sta- 
tions, the stentorian voice of the conductor in his 



178 Early Railroading in the West 

call for tickets, interspersed with the shrill cry of 
the water boy, as he passed through the car with his 
teakettle of ice water with its tin cup fitted into the 
rim under the spout, and with which he watered his 
passengers. We never heard of anybody being 
poisoned with germs, however, with all the pro- 
miscuous drinking from one cup. 

With the advent of the T-rail the running of the 
night trains was made possible, but the miseries and 
discomforts of a night ride were even worse than 
a day trip. 

As darkness came on the brakeman proceeded to 
light the dim oil lamps set in brackets on each side 
of the car, which afforded sufficient light for the 
passengers to find their way around and, as 9 or 10 
o'clock approached, the wearied traveler attempted 
to get some rest by curling himself up and twisting 
around in the uncomfortable seat, and one who 
imagined himself fortunate in securing a whole 
seat was soon undeceived by being unceremoniously 
prodded by a newcomer in search of a seat and, 
along about midnight, the water-boy took especial 
delight in awakening a somnolent passenger with a 
shrill cry in his ear, "Water!" and passed on, heed- 
less of the savage reply of his irritated victim. 

People had little money, but they willingly paid 
the tariff rate of three cents a mile for the privilege 
of being bumped over the country at the astonish- 
ingly rapid rate of twenty to twenty-five miles an 



Early Railroading in the West 179 

hour, with all the discomforts attending the journey, 
because it wasn't so far away from the day of the 
stagecoach, when they were required to pay at the 
rate of 10 cents a mile for being jolted out of their 
seats over corduroy roads through the swamps or 
pitched from one side of the stage to the other as 
the horses struggled along over the deep ruts and 
mudholes of the forest roads, at an average speed 
of four to five miles an hour. 

Added to the disagreeable features of an all- 
night ride on the old-time railroad, accompanying 
the stertorous snores of the sleeping passengers 
would be the indulging in a family repast about 
midnight, when one's olfactories would be regaled 
with the odor of bologna sausage, onions, cheese, 
and a variety of delicate perfumes emanating from 
various parts of the car. 

The regulation railway eating house was in its 
glory, and at certain hours of the day and night 
the passengers were informed in no uncertain tones 
that at the next station they had twenty minutes for 
refreshments, which really meant that by the time 
they had secured a seat at the table and a cup of 
muddy coffee with a piece of half-cooked chicken 
the time had dwindled down to fifteen minutes, and 
if the train happened to be a little late, the con- 
ductor, who had been promptly waited upon, being 
the first at the table and hastily swallowing his 
meal, would grab his brass lantern and make for 



180 Early Railroading in the West 

the door with the cry "all aboard/' leaving the pas- 
senger with a half -finished meal to rush back to the 
train, after disgorging his half-dollar to the smiling 
proprietor, who stood on guard at the only place of 
exit. 



CHAPTER XXIX 

Early Railroading (Continued) 

With this condition of things in what was 
known as first-class railway travel, the 
poor immigrant fared still worse. It was 
a time when the tide of immigration from Germany, 
Sweden, Norway and other parts of the old world 
was pouring into the Western states, and every 
train was largely made up of second-class cars, 
with their hard wooden -seats and an almost utter 
lack of decent accommodations, and whenever a 
train would stop at a station there would be a rush 
for the pump by the poor, thirsty creatures with 
their cups and cans, and before one-tenth of them 
could secure the water the cry "All aboard" would 
send them rushing back to their train in disappoint- 
ment after their fruitless effort. 

The condition of the second-class cars in which 
the poor immigrants were packed like cattle was 
filthy beyond description, and the suffering of the 
women and children during the warm weather may 



Early Railroading — Continued 181 

well be imagined. And yet these same foreign-born 
citizens were the men who furnished the bone and 
sinews of our Western prairies. Frugal, temperate 
and industrious, they have since become our most 
prosperous and respected citizens. They abun- 
dantly proved their loyalty to their adopted country 
in the hour of the nation's greatest peril, and their 
descendants today are not only our leading mer- 
chants and farmers, but have successfully filled the 
honorable positions of mayors of cities, governors, 
state officials and representatives in Congress. 



The lack of safety appliances on the old-time 
railroad made it extremely hazardous for the train- 
men, especially in the freight service where, during 
the winter season, men were obliged to run over the 
tops of the cars while the train was in motion, leap- 
ing from one car to another until they reached the 
brake. This was a particularly dangerous under- 
taking when the running-board on the top of the 
cars was coated with ice. 

There were also many accidents caused by 
coupling cars, where the brakeman was compelled 
to step in between as the cars were coming together 
and insert the coupling pin and, despite the utmost 
care of the engineer in backing up his engine, fre- 
quently the man would be caught between the 
bumpers and either killed or fatally injured. 



182 Early Railroading — Continued 

The modern methods of train dispatching were 
unknown, and trains ran on the slow but safe time- 
card rules ; arriving at a meeting point and failing 
to meet a train, a wait of twenty minutes, then pro- 
ceeding cautiously, sending a brakeman ahead with 
a red flag by day and a red lantern at night at each 
curve while the train from the opposite direction 
was doing the same, until the trains met, and one 
backed up to the nearest siding and let the other 
pass. 

Twenty-five miles an hour was the extreme limit 
for passenger trains, and twelve miles an hour for 
freights. 

Our road, running from Toledo to Chicago, was 
separated into two divisions — the Michigan South- 
ern on the east and the Northern Indiana on the 
west, divided near the state line between Michigan 
and Indiana, at which station was a large hotel and 
eating house, and the crews of both passenger and 
freight trains changed at that point. 

The divisions were in charge of superintendents, 
who were thorough railroad men from the ground 
up. They spent very little time in their headquar- 
ters, and were out on the road every day in the 
week, frequently riding on the pilot of the engine, 
inspecting the tracks. They knew every foot of the 
track and the condition of every bridge and culvert 
on their division. 



Early Railroading — Continued 183 

The western division was in charge of a super- 
intendent who was not only a thorough railroad 
man, but also a thorough gentleman, and it was 
remarked that he never passed the humblest em- 
ploye without a pleasant word of greeting. Step- 
ping off the engine at a station he would address a 
trackman with the words, "John, how is that young- 
est child of yours getting along?" "Very poorly, 
sorr; I'm afraid we won't raise him." "Well, you 
go to the drug store and get this, and I think it will 
help him," and he would write out a prescription on 
a slip of paper, which the poor fellow would 
gratefully accept, for our superintendent, in addi- 
tion to his other qualifications, had a medical ed- 
ucation. 

The relation between employer and employe was 
ideal. If a trackman had a grievance, whether real 
or fancied, he was not required to deal solely with 
his section boss, who might be bearing down too 
heavily on him for the purpose of forcing him out 
and putting a friend or relative in his place, but he 
could appeal directly to his superintendent the next 
time he met him, and the matter would be openly 
discussed between the trackman and his boss and 
the superintendent, and if there was any merit in 
the complaint it was quickly remedied. 

On the eastern division the superintendent was 
also a typical railroad man, but of a very different 
make-up. He was a picturesque figure, fully six 



184 Early Railroading — Continued 

feet tall, with swarthy complexion, and a voice like 
the roar of a lion, and if anything went wrong on 
his division we jvould hear his curses, loud and 
deep, but the more he swore and cursed the better 
his men loved him, for they knew that under his 
rough exterior was a heart as gentle and tender as 
a woman's. 

He loved all his boys, but especially his en- 
gineers, and it is related that on one occasion when 
one of his engineers met with an accident in a col- 
lision and was terribly mangled he had him brought 
to his own home and sat up with him nights until 
he succeeded in nursing him back to health. 

There were no strikes in those days; probably 
few, if any, understood the meaning of the word. 
Each man had a personal interest in the road and 
rejoiced in doing his full duty in whatever position 
he was placed. 

One of the pleasant features of the summer 
travel from Chicago to the East was a line of 
steamers that made daily trips between Toledo and 
Buffalo, and as the train pulled into Toledo and 
the passengers were leisurely eating their dinner at 
the Island House their baggage was being trans- 
ferred to the Southern Michigan or Northern 
Indiana, both beautiful boats, luxuriantly fur- 
nished, and the passengers would enjoy the pleasure 
of a lake trip to Buffalo and a good night's rest, 



Early Railroading — Continued 185 

which meant a great deal to the traveler in the ab- 
sence of sleeping cars on the railways. 

This pleasant feature of summer travel might 
have continued for many summers following but 
for a sad calamity that occurred in the fall of 1856 
resulting in the burning of the Southern Michigan 
with a loss of thirty lives, which caused the aban- 
donment of the delightful water trip which had 
proved so attractive to the passenger traffic between 
Chicago and New York. 



CHAPTER XXX 
A Famous Detective 

In the fall of 1853, the first year of the com- 
pletion of the railroad to the city of Chicago, 
two quite serious accidents occurred on the 
road near the state line between Indiana and Illi- 
nois, resulting in the derailment of the engine and 
several cars and serious personal injuries, caused 
by placing ties or railroad iron across the tracks. 
The work was done sometime after dark, and the 
utmost vigilance on the part of the railroad officials 
failed to detect the culprits. 

A detective agency had been established in Chi- 
cago a short time previous to these occurrences, at 
the head of which was a man named Pinkerton — 
Allan Pinkerton. The railway officials, after vain 
efforts in detecting the miscreants through their own 
men, called upon Pinkerton's agency to aid them in 
ferreting out the perpetrators and bringing them to 
justice. 

After being put in possession of all the facts 
connected with the case Mr. Pinkerton realized that 
the matter was too serious to entrust to any of his 
men and that the only way in which the mystery 
could be unraveled would be through patient and 
persistent personal work, and he therefore decided 
to take a vacation for an indefinite period, leaving 
his department in charge of one of his best men. 

186 



A Famous Detective 187 

A few days later the section gang working in the 
vicinity where the troubles had occurred was joined 
by a heavy-set man, dressed in the ordinary labor- 
er's clothing, who went by the name of Tim O'Brien. 
The gang fought shy of him at first, as they would 
of any stranger, but their suspicions were allayed 
as they became better acquainted with him, as Tim 
proved to be an all-around good fellow, and was 
free with his money, and in the course of time he 
was admitted into their confidence and their secret 
councils. This was not accomplished in a week or 
two weeks, however, and nearly two months had 
elapsed before matters had reached the active stage, 
when in their secret conferences it was decided that 
the night express leaving Chicago at 10 o'clock for 
the East, which was known to carry thousands of 
dollars in gold, would be derailed and wrecked, 
and in the excitement attending the accident, result- 
ing perhaps in the loss of many innocent lives, an 
opportunity would be afforded to loot the express 
car and secure the treasure. Among those who were 
selected to attend to that part of the work was Tim 
O'Brien, the biggest and strongest man in the gang, 
who had lately by reason of his superior shrewdness 
and force of character become their leader. 

The night, the place, and the hour had been 
definitely fixed upon, and on the evening of the 
night preceding that date, shortly after dark, a 
stout, well-dressed man, who might have been a 



188 A Famous Detective 

banker or a merchant, to all appearances, stepped 
into the little railroad telegraph station and wrote 
the following dispatch to the superintendent of the 
road: 

"No. 7, Tuesday night; slow down at Section 24 
for fishermen." 

It was not uncommon in those days to slow down 
a train and stop for a party of hunters or fishermen 
when requested so to do, and there was nothing in 
the dispatch to arouse the suspicions of the oper- 
ator or anybody else who might chance to see it; 
but the superintendent, who had been fully posted 
in advance, knew what it meant and, taking the 
first train for Chicago with the following day ahead 
of him for completing such plans as had been 
agreed upon, he secured a sufficient force of de- 
tectives to cope with the gang when the time for 
action arrived. The detectives dressed in the garb 
of workmen were dropped off in twos and threes at 
one or two stations in the vicinity of the section and 
remained scattered until after dark, when they met 
and concealed themselves within sight of the des- 
ignated spot, and at the hour fixed a number of men, 
led by Tim O'Brien, appeared from an adjoining 
clump of bushes, and at the sound of the locomotive 
whistle in the distance were seen carrying a T-rail, 
which they placed across the track, and the gang 
were about to fall back to await results from their 



A Famous Detective 189 

nefarious work when they found themselves sur- 
rounded by the detectives. 

The surprise was so sudden that none escaped, 
and they were handcuffed, Tim O'Brien among the 
rest, and put on the train, which had slowed down 
as directed for the "fishermen," and taken back to 
Chicago, where they were safely lodged behind the 
bars of Bridewell, after which the belated night 
express made another start, with the comfortable 
assurance that there would be no more track ob- 
struction, by that gang at least, and probably none 
for years to come at that point. 

It was Pinkerton's first important work, and it 
was so cleverly and successfully carried through 
that it won for him a national reputation, which 
still clings to the agency that bears his name, al- 
though it has been many years since his day. 



CHAPTER XXXI 
The "Wildcat" Banks 

Those of us who have enjoyed for many 
years the blessing of a system of stable cur- 
rency, beginning with the greenback currency 
of the Civil War, which later developed into the 
national bank system, can hardly appreciate the 
benefit of such currency to the trade and commerce 
of the country as compared with our banking sys- 
tem in the West before the Civil War, when the era 
of "wildcat" currency was at its height, when banks 
were started in every little town, with no specie in 
their vaults and no assets outside of a counter and 
some plate-glass partitions, a safe and sufficient fur- 
niture to make an outside show, and people were 
entrapped into depositing their hard earnings, to 
be drawn out in the shape of very prettily engraved 
banknotes, with no guaranty of security on their 
face except the bare signature of the president and 
cashier. In all such cases it was supposed that the 
bank had a sufficient amount of gold or silver to 
enable it to redeem the notes when presented with 
a demand for the specie. 

In the summer of 1857 a panic started, with the 
failure of a few of these institutions, and people 
at once became suspicious of their local banks and, 
as they presented their notes with a demand for the 
specie, bank after bank was compelled to close its 

190 



The "Wildcat" Banks 191 

doors, and at the railroad ticket offices and other 
public places daily lists were furnished of such 
banks as had failed inside of twenty-four hours, 
and it was impossible to say whether a bank-note 
which was considered good one day would not be 
pronounced utterly worthless the next day. The 
only reliable bank-notes were those of the State bank 
located at the capitol, and as the closing of a bank's 
door was a matter of daily occurrence, business 
failures naturally followed, and a period of finan- 
cial stress and disaster prevailed throughout the 
country. Added to this was the circulation of a 
number of counterfeit notes of the State bank 
issues, necessitating frequent references to the Na- 
tional Bank Note Detector, which was a necessary 
adjunct to every bank and mercantile establishment. 
This condition of affairs was calculated to make 
life a burden to the unfortunate railroad ticket 
agent, who was receiving daily bulletins from head- 
quarters with long lists of banks that had failed 
since the last bulletin, or were in such a shaky con- 
dition that the company notified its agents that notes 
of such banks would not be received if taken in at 
the office after the receipt of the list, and the only 
safety for the ticket agent was to make up his re- 
mittance and rush it through on the first train, lest 
he should be found with the "goods" on him after 
the receipt of the last list, and to insure against 
being "stuck" with a discredited banknote he was 



192 The "Wildcat" Banks 

compelled to consult his lists with nearly every ap- 
plicant for a ticket which, with the excited crowd 
at the window eager to obtain their tickets before 
the train started, kept the agent on a constant strain, 
lest in the shuffle a bad bill would be palmed off on 
him, which would mean that much deducted from 
his meager salary. 



CHAPTER XXXII 
A Dream of the Years 

A mid the bright and peaceful scenes of yester- 
f-\ day a shadow of a cloud has been gathering, 
-*■ -^ unheeded by the people of a happy and 
prosperous land, and but dimly foreseen save by 
the statesmen of the day who have been keeping 
their fingers on the pulse of the nation, a cloud "no 
bigger than a man's hand" appearing in the South, 
and year after year is adding to its growth. The 
curse of slavery, which has laid its withering hand 
upon the brightest and loveliest section of our coun- 
try — a curse which came upon us long before the 
days of Washington, and has stood for more than 
a century, giving the lie to our boasted declaration 
that all men are created free, with equal rights to 
life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, which 
has been ruthlessly trodden under foot by an auto- 
cratic majority under strict party discipline in Con- 
gress and the White House, while we of the peaceful 
North, heedless of the danger signals ever and anon 
thrown out like tongues of flame from the sup- 
pressed fires of a seething volcano, little dream of 
the terrible years to come upon us, as we pursue the 
even tenor of our way, content to endure the obloquy 
attaching to an institution which for these many 
years has been a foul blot upon our escutcheon, so 
long as it extends thus far, and no farther. 

193 



194 A Dream of the Years 

But events are crowding the history of the years, 
the significance of which can no longer be blinked, 
and the most obtuse minds are awakening to a re- 
alization of the impending danger, and anxiously 
watching the gathering clouds that are threatening 
destruction and death to our national life. 

The "irrepressible conflict" between the North 
and the South on the slavery question is constantly 
cropping out in the debates in the halls of Congress, 
and the determined effort of Southern members to 
force their "peculiar institution" into the territories 
which are rapidly growing in population and knock- 
ing at the doors of Congress for admission into the 
family of states is having its effect in solidifying the 
Northern and Western states into a steadfast and 
determined opposition to the extension into the new 
states of an institution which has for years become 
a stench in the nostrils of the residents of the free 
states of the Union. 

The passage of the Fugitive Slave law, compel- 
ling the peaceable citizen of the Northwest to aban- 
don his work on his farm or shop at the command 
of the slave hunter in pursuit of his "chattel," re- 
quiring him under the direst threats of pains and 
penalties, even of death in case of refusal, to assist 
him in the pursuit and capture of some miserable 
creature who is endeavoring to escape from his 
master and seek refuge on the Canadian border — 
all this has aroused a spirit of righteous indignation 



A Dream of the Years 195 

that will not tamely submit to an invasion of per- 
sonal liberty under the cover of an iniquitous law 
passed in defiance of the Constitution of the United 
States. 

The decision of Chief Justice Taney of the Su- 
preme Court, known as the Dred Scott decision, that 
Congress has no power to abolish slavery in any 
territory acquired since the foundation of the gov- 
ernment, and attacking the constitutionality of the 
Missouri Compromise of 1820, adds fuel to the 
fire which has been kindled in opposition to the 
constant aggression by the South, whose representa- 
tives in Congress have been in control of both 
branches for many years, and are determined to 
stop at nothing in the accomplishment of their de- 
sign of forcing slavery into the new territories and 
states of the Northwest. 

But the young giant of the West has been growing 
rapidly in stature and strength in these later years, 
and the tide of immigration that has been sweeping- 
over the new territory, peopling it with foreign-born 
citizens of other nations who have come to this coun- 
try to escape the tyranny of their own governments, 
has strengthened its sinews and given birth to a new 
political party, the Republican party, which has 
had its first trial of strength, with John C. Fremont 
as its standard bearer in 1856, and, although de- 
feated in its first encounter, is still very much alive 



196 A Dream of the Years 

and gathering strength for the conflict that is now 
seen to be inevitable in years to come. 

The continuous outrages and wanton invasion of 
territory with destruction of property and murder 
of inoffensive citizens in the territory of Kansas by 
the "border ruffians" of the slave state of Missouri, 
in an effort to force an entering wedge for the intro- 
duction of slavery, the pillaging and burning of the 
town of Lawrence, Kansas, followed but a day or 
two later by a cowardly and murderous attack by 
a South Carolina congressman upon Senator Charles 
Sumner while quietly writing in the Senate chamber 
with his back to the assassin, has aroused to fever 
heat the quickened pulses of the people of the 
Northwest, and on the other hand the foolish raid 
of John Brown and his handful of followers in an 
insane attempt to stir up an insurrection among the 
Southern slaves has added fuel to the fierce fires 
of the South and their intense hatred of the despised 
Northern "mud sills;" and in the meantime the 
country awaits with breathless anxiety the results 
of the national conventions of 1860. 

It is the late spring of 1860. The Democratic 
national convention is meeting in Charleston, S. C, 
the hotbed of rebellion, always a firebrand as far 
back as the days of Andrew Jackson, whose firm 
hand and iron will crushed out the first attempt of 
secession and separation from the national family 
by that state. A long and exciting session results 



A Dream of the Years 197 

in a division between the radical and conservative 
elements of the party, each putting up separate 
tickets. 

Two weeks later and the Republican party is 
holding its convention in the famous Wigwam at 
Chicago, resulting in the selection of Abraham Lin- 
coln as its standard bearer. 

The whirlwind campaign of the summer and fall 
of 1860, with its hundreds of thousands of torches 
illuminating the heavens nightly, borne by enthusi- 
astic armies of Wide Awakes with their oilcloth 
capes, caps and banners. 

The election of Lincoln, the assembling of Con- 
gress, the secession from the Union of the South, 
state after state, led by South Carolina, the tumul- 
tous scenes in Congress, the notes of preparation 
for war throughout the South, preceding the first 
overt act, the firing of the first gun at Charleston, 
and the surrender of the purposely weakened and 
powerless garrison of Fort Sumter. 

The call of Lincoln for 75,000 volunteers for 
three months 9 service, and the sluggish blood of the 
North is becoming warmed to a realization of the 
fact that we are in the throes of a civil war, and 
every town and hamlet in the land is resounding 
with the music of fife and drum, the sharp com- 
mand of the drillmaster, and the ceaseless tramp 
and evolutions of the new recruits. 



198 A Dream of the Years 

Even now the full meaning of what is before us 
is not fully realized, and the assembling of the vari- 
ous companies at the rendezvous with their gay uni- 
forms and bright trappings seems but a summer 
holiday for the young soldier, as he appears on 
dress parade, in the presence of admiring friends 
and relatives awaiting orders for transportation to 
the front. 

Day after day brings telegraph news of skir- 
mishes here and there, and "On to Richmond" is 
the cry of the daily press, until the fatal day in 
July, 1861, the birthday of the nation, when the 
telegraph brings us the direful tidings of the shame- 
ful and inglorious defeat of the army of the Po- 
tomac at Bull Run, with the disgraceful panic and 
rout which sent our men fleeing in scattered herds 
back to the nation's capital. 

On the same day and concurrent with the news 
of the defeat of our army comes the call of Lincoln 
for 300,000 men for three years' service. And 
now we fully realize the terrible fact that the war 
is no longer a holiday outing, with fancy uniforms 
made to order, with an accompaniment of -a regi- 
mental band, a short campaign, and a speedy return 
to their homes decked with garlands of victory. 

No more spectacular battles, with distant onlook- 
ers in their carriages in holiday attire, fresh from 
the social swim of life at the capital of the nation. 
We know now that it is a stern and relentless con- 



A Dream of the Years 199 

flict, through summer and winter campaigns for 
years to come, with call after call for hundreds of 
thousands of troops, depopulating farm, workshop 
and counting house throughout the land. 

A simple uniform of blue serge blouse and trous- 
ers, roughly made and handed out by the thousands, 
with army shoes, the grey blanket, with knapsack, 
haversack and musket and the regulation round of 
ammunition is all that the soldier requires, as he 
draws his daily rations from the quartermaster's 
department to be cooked by himself and his com- 
rades over the hastily constructed campfire. The 
shrill music of fife and drum has supplanted the 
gorgeously uniformed and expensive regimental 
band, as quotas are filled from each state with half- 
drilled companies of raw recruits, rapidly gathered 
and formed into regiments and transported to the 
scene of action. 

The hundred battles that follow with the loss of 
more than half a million of precious lives and 
countless thousands of permanently disabled on one 
side alone out of two and a half million of Union 
soldiers engaged in the four years of conflict be- 
longs to a history of many volumes filled with every 
detail of the great Civil War between the South and 
the North, ending with the surrender of General 
Lee at Appomatox in the spring of 1865. 

But who can write the history of the hundreds of 
thousands of peaceful and happy homes, suddenly 



200 A Dream of the Years 

disrupted by the stern call upon husbands, fathers 
and brothers to join the ranks in defense of their 
country? Who can write the chronicle of homes 
desolated and bereft of the comfort and support 
of their natural protectors, the blasted hopes of 
young lovers whose blissful dreams of future hap- 
piness in sweet little homes builded and furnished 
in their fond imaginations are ruthlessly swept 
aside by the stern call to duty — histories written 
only in the hearts and memories of the stricken 
ones, whose sole duty is to follow daily the monoto- 
nous round of household work, and pray hourly 
for the safe return of their loved ones? 

And out of the mists and shadows of those dark 
days there remains to the lone chronicler the 
memory of a pair of earnest, truthful brown eyes 
through which the soul shone out in steadfast faith 
and loyalty to the one love of her life — eyes that 
years afterwards, suffering, weary and longing for 
rest, closed forever upon the scenes of this world. 

The struggle between love and duty is quickly 
ended when simultaneously with the call for the 
300,000 there came through the mail the little 
"housewife" with needles, pins and thread, all that 
the soldier needed in his crude efforts at repairing 
the ravages and mishaps to clothing in camp life, 
a dainty creation of her own dear hands, mingled 
with her tears, with the pathetic little note — " Tis 
little that a woman can do in these perilous days, to 



A Dream of the Years 201 

keep the home fires burning, with brothers in the 
field, and only poor old father to care for. You 
know what this little keepsake means, dear. May- 
God bless and keep you, and bring you back safely 
to— Inez." 

A half hour later and a new name is added to the 
roll of the — regiment of Wisconsin volunteers, 
in company with many others of the home flock, 
some of whom have stood out prominently in the 
light that shone on the making of great names .... 

"Why, grandfather, do wake up," sounds the voice 
of my granddaughter, another little Inez with the 
same dark brown eyes looking into mine — "here 
you have been sleeping for hours, and you know 
we are to take the train in an hour to visit Uncle 
Will and the kids." 

And thus ends my dream of the years. 



THE AFTERWORD 

The tale of Yesterday is told, so far as it 
relates to the early history of Western life, 
covering, as it does, but a single decade of 
those quiet and happy days when our nation was 
at peace with the world. Sixty-five years have 
passed since those quiet, uneventful scenes ended 
with the last chapter of this chronicle. In that time 
the fearful record of war and bloodshed in which 
our country has had its full share, with its loss of 
hundreds of thousands of the bravest and best youth 
of our land is now a part of the history of the world. 
And in the early years of the new century may we 
not stop a moment comparing the restless, feverish 
life of today with the simple annals of the past, and 
ask ourselves, "What have we gained in all these 
years of toil and strife?" 

Granting that our country has enormously in- 
creased in area and population, until it now has 
within its borders more than a hundred million 
souls, that wealth has accumulated to such colossal 
proportions that the fortunes of yesterday which 
we counted by the hundreds of thousands are 
counted today by the millions and billions — that 
in the rapid stride of progress in all the arts and 
sciences a new vista has opened before our aston- 
ished gaze and the wonderful inventions of but a 
few years past have revolutionized the entire civ- 

202 



The Afterword 203 

ilized world — new developments in the realm of 
nature, new energies never before dreamed of, en- 
tering into all the avenues of daily life. 

And still, let us inquire, What have we gained 
in the things that make for the real advancement 
and betterment of mankind? 

In the midst of the strenuous life of today, a 
life that is daily adding to its thousands of victims 
of heart disease, of paralysis, of nervous prostra- 
tion, its appalling record of insanity and suicide, 
and all the ills that follow in the wake of an insane 
struggle for wealth, the foolish chase after the bau- 
ble reputation of the millionaire — again let us in- 
quire, Where is our boasted civilization, when 
licentiousness is running riot, and crimes of every 
description furnish the daily record of our news 
items — when graft, embezzlement, wholesale brib- 
ery and robbery of the people under the name of 
"high finance" is the order of the day — when the 
red flag of anarchy, born of the scum of the old 
world, is brazenly flaunted in our faces; when the 
peaceable and inoffensize citizen is murdered at 
midday by trained gangs of assassins, and law and 
order is derided and defied at our very doors — 
when religion, that mystic tie that binds us to God, 
is losing its hold upon us, and His sacred Word is 
the target of attack on all sides — when vice and 
licentiousness have crept into literature and the 
drama, and the details of all the miserable scandals 



204 The Afterword 

of the divorce court are daily served up to us with 
sensational headlines, and in all our large cities 
are shamelessly posted pictures of vice that reek 
with the filth and poison of the sewers of the under- 
world — vices that brought about the downfall of 
ancient Rome? 

Turning with horror from this terrible picture 
of crimes that greet us on every hand, we may well 
ask, Can it be possible that in this fair land of lib- 
erty ancient history will repeat itself, and the high 
ideals born of the sacrifice of millions of lives from 
the days of Washington down to the later days of 
Lincoln, and down to the present day will be swept 
aside and overwhelmed by the attacks of that mon- 
ster whose name is Legion and whose insidious 
poison is threatening the life of our beloved nation? 

The voice of millions of good men and women 
throughout the length and breadth of the land cry 
in thunder tones, "No, no — a thousand times no!" 

Then let us take courage and be of good cheer. 

Philosophers and statesmen of a past generation, 
who have stood like watchmen on the outposts, peer- 
ing into the dim light of the future have pointed 
with unerring finger to two evils which, if not held 
in check by strong laws, would eventually destroy 
the Republic. 

Those twin evils, Intemperance and Greed, have 
gone forward hand in hand unchecked in the many 
years of the past, and have grown to giant propor- 



The Afterword 205 

tions while we have been absorbed in our trivial 
pursuit of gain, unmindful of the hastening ills 
which were threatening our national life until the 
prophecies of the wise men were in danger of ful- 
fillment at no distant day. 

But still let us take courage, and be of good 
cheer. 

The conflict between good and evil, between vir- 
tue and vice, a conflict which has been but feebly 
waged in the past, is assuming a strength little 
dreamed of. God is not mocked ; the evil days are 
being shortened, and out of the clamor and babel 
of tongues we can distinctly hear the sound of that 
bugle "that shall never call retreat," and all the 
forces that make for the good and well-being of 
the community are being massed in every city, town 
and hamlet in the land. Prohibition of the manu- 
facture and sale of spirituous liquors has become 
the law of the land. The saloon and barroom, which 
for past generations has been given a free rein and 
full liberty to carry on its nefarious traffic which 
has caused the destruction and ruin of our youth 
and manhood, has become a thing of the past and, 
although the tentacles of the octopus are still show- 
ing signs of life in our large cities, the law fastens 
its strong grip on the offender whenever detected, 
and our courts see to it that swift punishment is 
meted out to the criminals who have defied the law. 



206 The Afterword 

Universal suffrage has become a plank in our 
Constitution, giving the right of the exercise of 
suffrage to the good women of the land, and they 
are carefully and seriously studying the principles 
of government, with far more and better apprecia- 
tion of the new responsibility resting upon them 
than the average man has ever realized, and are 
demonstrating their capacity of exercising their 
new-born rights at the ballot box to the extent of 
seeing to it that none but the best men are elected 
to office. 

The curse of Greed, which has given birth to the 
swollen fortunes of the millionaire and strength- 
ened the sinews of the syndicate, is feeling the 
strong grip of the law and controlling hand of gov- 
ernment in both state and nation. 

The millions of toilers banded together in the 
strong bonds of unionism are making themselves 
heard in no uncertain tones, and their cry for justice 
will not go unheeded. 

Dishonest and corrupt politicians who have be- 
trayed the trust reposed in them by their constitu- 
ents are being exposed to the limelight through the 
columns of the daily press. 

Added to these forces are the myriad of national, 
state and local organizations, headed by the best 
men and women of the land, which are daily spring- 
ing up in our midst, for the protection of innocence, 
for the comfort and relief of the unfortunate, for 









The Afterword 207 

a better education and enlightenment of the people 
on all the great problems of the day, for the pro- 
hibition of child labor, for a better wage for wom- 
en, for the purification of literature and the drama, 
and, added to this, the determined stand of the 
churchman, which is bringing together in solid pha- 
lanx all Christians in defense of the faith of their 
forefathers — at a time, too, when the great heart of 
the nation is throbbing with sympathy for the suf- 
fering and poverty of people of foreign lands, and 
millions are being poured out for the relief of starv- 
ing women and children of those unhappy coun- 
tries — all these are unmistakable signs which pre- 
sage the dawn of a brighter and better day, and it 
needs no prophetic vision to foretell the final tri- 
umph of these tremendous forces ceaselessly work- 
ing through numberless channels in behalf of 
the good and well-being of the human race. 

And what a picture arises before us, as we behold 
in the coming years a regenerated people, a nation 
strong and great, builded on the solid foundation 
stones of liberty, justice and equal rights — a nation 
whose aristocracy shall consist not of the coarse, 
flaunting possessors of ill-gotten wealth, but of 
noble men and women of purity of thought and 
life, of honesty and integrity of purpose, banded 
together in the strong bonds of fellowship, based on 
the grand doctrine of the brotherhood of man, the 



208 The Afterword 

Fatherhood of God, and the solidarity of the human 
race. 

And out of the peace and happiness of Yester- 
day, out of the strife and turmoil of the terrible 
night of blood and carnage we may see the hand of 
Him who is shaping the destiny of nations; and 
securely resting in the hollow of that Hand in the 
advancing years of the new century let us hark back 
to the brave and comforting words of our Savior on 
the eve of His crucifixion — words that have come 
down to us through the ages — "Be of good cheer; 
I have overcome the world." 



The End 



